Category: Traditional Chinese Medicine

Fengxi

Lipstick on Fengxi

Another attempt to demonstrate that the fiction of acupuncture is based in reality. This time it is the interstitium. Nope.

/ May 19, 2026
A woman lies face down on a massage table with several acupuncture needles inserted into her bare upper back, receiving acupuncture treatment. A white towel covers part of her body, and she appears relaxed.

More credulous nonsense about acupuncture, this time from National Geographic

PNAS recently published credulous nonsense about acupuncture so bad that I thought it couldn't be topped. "Hold my beer!" cried National Geographic, as it proceeded to top PNAS.

/ May 11, 2026
A close-up, black and white image shows one hand massaging a person's back while the other hand holds a smooth hot stone, likely during a hot stone massage therapy session.

The Red Marks of Pseudo-Medicine: Gua Sha

Claiming that an inflammatory response to injury is inherently therapeutic is a massive leap of faith.

/ February 16, 2026
The World Health Organization logo features a blue globe with a staff and snake symbol, surrounded by olive branches, next to the blue text "World Health Organization.

The World Health Organization on Traditional Medicine

The World Health Organization updated their guidelines on "traditional medicine." Unfortunately, as has been the case in the past the WHO tends to be far too credulous about unproven and disproven treatments.

/ January 21, 2026
Integrative oncology

Revisiting “integrative oncology”: The battle to integrate quackery with oncology continues

Nature Reviews Cancer published a propaganda piece disguised as commentary promoting "integrative oncology," or what I like to call "integrating" quackery with oncology.

/ August 19, 2024

Pulse Diagnostics

Perhaps the EKG of my bulldog. TCPM wouldn't have a clue what was going on.

/ July 16, 2024

Tongue

TCPM Tongue diagnosis. Garbage in, garbage out.

/ April 16, 2024

Best Hospital Eye Roll

Science: Figuring things out is better than making things up. A tee shirt I recently saw. Except… In a recent post Mayo Clinic Promotes Reiki, Steve seemed surprised that the Mayo was offering Reiki. I don’t know. Maybe he was channeling Louie. I know the Mayo is a top hospital, but I trained in Minneapolis at Hennepin County and we would have...

/ March 19, 2024