chinese acupuncture

in many areas of western medicine, rigorously controlled research and carefully documented experience allow fairly definitive answers to questions of diagnosis and treatment of any given malady. although the quality of research in acupuncture is now better meeting the requirements of western medicine, we still can rarely answer questions based on a western scientific-evidence-based model. the reasons for which lie in the nature of the two systems themselves. nature does not reveal itself to us, but only gives answers to the questions that we pose. in november of 1997 the national institutes of health (nih) convened a conference on acupuncture to determine what answers we do have from a rigorous scientific standpoint.

this approach is in contrast to traditional acupuncture models where an individual, not a diagnosis, is treated. treatment is based not only on diagnostic evaluations derived fromsubjective signs and symptoms but on an accurate assessment of a patients nature/constitution. in a medical model such as traditional oriental medicine,where optimal treatment requires individualization, western statistical analyses and study design must challenge a sole reliance on "standard" approaches to be meaningful.

therein lies the problem. it is human nature to want the best medical care according to established standards, which in this country are based on the traditional scientific model.average westerners, having been exposed to a fairly homogeneous group of medical practitioners, tend to assume that there is an optimal treatment regimen for any given condition. since most medical doctors will ask similar questions, do similar exams, order similar tests and recommend similar therapies for a given problemtheir approach being based on similar research, teaching and experiencepeople assume that a physician who deviates from the norm is either ignorant or incompetent. (the exception would be physicians exploring new treatment regimes in research settings.)

there have been attempts to "standardize" acupuncture approaches. the chinese government under communist rule has created a model of acupuncture called traditional chinese medicine. this is the model taught in most acupuncture schools in the west. although based on traditional models of oriental medicine, particularly herbal approaches, it only partially reflects the wealth of acupuncture models used historically and today.