Results for: acupuncture
The effort of integrative medicine advocates to co-opt the opioid crisis to claim non pharmacological treatments for pain as solely theirs continues apace
Last week, I wrote about how advocates for quackery were trying, and succeeding, at persuading state Medicaid agencies to pay for acupuncture for pain. This week, I discuss how they are promoting the integration of quackery with medicine. In this case, they are promoting a white paper and trying to influence the AHRQ.
Indian Doctors Fight Against Quackery
To address a doctor shortage, Indian health minister JP Nadda is proposing licensing practitioners of ayurveda and homeopathy. This would be a terrible mistake.
A Misguided Study to Test the Reliability of Traditional Chinese Medicine Pulse Diagnosis
Pulse diagnosis and tongue diagnosis are widely used in traditional Chinese medicine. They are based on imagination, not on anatomical and physiologic reality.
Damn the evidence and regulations: VA goes full speed ahead with medical pseudoscience
The VA recently mandated inclusion of acupuncture, reiki, reflexology and other CAM in veterans medical benefits and will require that they be offered at VA medical facilities, ignoring the lack of evidence and federal rules on what medical benefits can be covered.
Science-Based Satire: Alternative Medical Adverse Events on the Rise
Are patients being senselessly slaughtered by poorly trained Reiki practitioners? Probably not. Okay, they aren't...at least not directly. But Reiki is dumb and so is the belief that the power to manipulate human energy fields would be risk free. Here satire article is.
Science Moms Fight Fears with Facts
A new documentary takes a novel approach. It features scientist moms who are just like other moms except that they understand the science. They set the record straight about GMOs, vaccines, and other subjects of interest to parents. They provide the facts to counteract unreasonable fears.
The integration of mysticism and pseudoscience with oncology continues apace in NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers
Last week, I commented on the inability of the Society for Integrative Oncology to define what integrative oncology actually is. This week, I note the proliferation of the quackery of integrative oncology in places that should be rigorously science-based, namely NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers.
What is “integrative oncology”? Even the Society for Integrative Oncology doesn’t seem to know for sure
Last week, the Society for Integrative Oncology published an article attempting to define what "integrative oncology" is. The definition, when it isn't totally vague, ignores the pseudoscience at the heart of integrative oncology and medicine.
CAM use leads to delays in appropriate, effective arthritis therapy
A preference to use CAM before seeking medical advice may be harming patients with inflammatory arthritis.
Placebo Myths Debunked
Placebo treatments are often sold as magical mind-over-matter healing effects, but they are mostly just illusions and non-specific effects.