Shiatsudo Blog

I’ve just read A Review of the Evidence for the Effectiveness, Safety, and Cost of Acupuncture, Massage Therapy, and Spinal Manipulation for Back Pain(full article). Interesting reading – one of the conclusions was that in cases of chronic back pain, massage was found to be more effective than acupuncture. In a way this seems obvious. No one technique offers a panacea for all problems and it is important to choose the correct therapy for the problem. My acupuncture teacher is a big believer in this. He gives the example of someone with a broken pinkie….you might, as an acupuncturist look at a broken pinkie and think Heart or Small Intestine meridian, I’ll pop a few needles into those, keep the energy in the meridian flowing smoothly etc etc…..or you could use a little common sense and find a bone-setter to put the bones straight and splint it up.

The study also notes that there is “growing evidence that patient expectations affect outcomes”. Hmmm…..