01/29 Criticism On “In Afghanistan, Using Acupuncture to Treat Wounded Warriors”
I am the Director of the 300 hours Contemporary Acupuncture Program that Cmdr. Keith Stuessi and 70 other US Navy physicians and allied professionals took in 2008, 2009, and 2010. There is a tremendous value in the integration of neurofunctional acupuncture in the treatment of disorders where the nervous system has been altered, particularly the autonomic nervous system. These include musculoskeletal pain and movement disorders, functional problems of the viscera (from a simple indigestion to dysmenorrhea), and problems of central dysregulation (autonomic, limbic system, etc.) such as chronic pain, concussions, PTSD, addictions, chronic fatigue, and fibromyalgia. There several inexactitudes in your comments. To help all of you understand why acupuncture works, when it works: it is a simple stimulation of the peripheral nervous system done very close to the nerves and the arterial network by the mechanical stimulus provided by the needle, and by the additional use of electricity in many instances. As a result of this stimulation signals are generated and transmitted to the central nervous system, where they are processed. The processing modifies the activity of the nervous system, in many instances regulating the abnormal activity that resulted from the original trauma or injury, or from the internal dysregulation caused by stress. There is nothing magic about this. It is quite a standard neurological behavior. We already know a lot about the biochemical and bioelectrical mechanisms involved in these responses. There are thousands of studies in animal models that explain extremely well how a lot of this happens. It is not a matter of believe or opinion, the fact that the insertion of fine needles near nerves and arteries triggers an array of measurable physiological responses is a documented scientific phenomenon. The precise optimal stimulation parameters for the treatment of specific conditions is still a work in progress. At this point on time, it is clear that the double blind randomized control trial paradigm used to evaluate pharmacological substances is not appropriate to generate this information. However, for your peace of mind, there are also no RCT on the effectiveness of the use of parachutes and they seem to be working fine despite the lack of scientific evidence. Maybe is all placebo, but so far there are no volunteers to be the control group in a possible future study. Please, support the caring and intelligent people, such as Cmdr. Keith Stuessi, that put patient benefits ahead of their own careers or personal demi lovato weight gain. Thank you.
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