This reference describes how one Western trained (indoctrinated) MD quickly learned that the kind of medicine he was taught in medical school didnt really work. And how he began to investigate various kinds of energetic healing modalities including bach flower remedies, homeopathy,ayurveda, pramayama or conscious breathing, massage, diet and detoxification etc
http://radicalhealing.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/RH_Cover_and_Intro.pdf

The last section of his Radical Healing book, titled Guide to the Further Study of Holistic Medicine is an education in itself.

And why not check out the list of books featured here, all of which operate on the basis of a more subtle epistemology than that of the Western drugs and surgery model, which reduces human beings to a pile of unconscious molecules or a slab of meat on an operating table.
http://www.northatlanticbooks.com/category/health/chinesemed

Every book published by North Atlantic advocates a completely different epistemology than that of the now world-dominant paradigm of scientific materialism.

It is well-known that some acupuncturists are better than others, with large variance. A short technical/western course is not enough to master the art: generally, those who studied acupuncture for years in China do better.

The fact that patients knew not the difference between real needles and sham needles, indicates that they had no experience with real acupuncture because otherwise they could clearly see the needles protruding and the sham ones missing, as well as feel the real needles for half an hour or so while they're in. Stinging one momentarily with a needle is not acupuncture.

In any case, even if acupuncture is just a placebo, any method that prevents the "drugs and surgery barbarism" mentioned by Daffy, is welcome. The wise may rather stay away from doctors altogether without requiring and paying for placebos.

Acupuncture certainly works on my dodgey knee. The author doesn't seem to realise that many things happen and work without understanding the reasons. The cart is most probably before the horse in the article. It would seem likely that acupuncture would have been discovered by some serendipitous good fortune and the reasons for it's efficacy not understood. The ancient chinese with the primitive medical knowledge of centuries ago could only explain it in terms of meridians and chi. Doesn't mean it is only a placebo just because nobody has discovered why just yet.

With an "About the Author" description including:

"She's dug latrines, inspected mosquito nets, and surprised men's meetings with family planning education. She is simultaneously easily disgruntled and incurably optimistic."

Oh Crocodile Hunter of isolated medicine, of scatter-gun viewpoints

- do stay in Africa please.

I have never tried acupuncture, but it seems to me the evidence that it is “sham medicine” is not conclusive:

SHRODE’s mention of Harvard led me to this link:
http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/acupuncture-is-worth-a-try-for-chronic-pain-201304016042

I almost never agree with Daffy, but on this I think s/he has a point. To dismiss something a priori as unscientific on the basis that it’s not consistent with conventional medical knowledge is not science, it’s scientism.

The appropriate scientific response is to experiment to see whether it does in fact work, then investigate why. Many of the studies into the effectiveness of acupuncture show its does work for some people, even allowing for placebo effects. There is no necessary reason to accept traditional explanations about qi as to how it works; according to the Harvard Medical School, western scientists tend to talk in terms of “affecting neurotransmitters, hormone levels, or the immune system”.

It could be the 90%+ of traditional medicines are sham; the other 10% will be useful. Let’s use science to establish which ones are and which one’s aren’t.

Thank you oh rational Alanta. The loopy things we believe in - alternative medicine, global worming, Keynesian macroeconomics, Marxism, witch-doctors and the power of sneering ad hominem in argument - certainly get in the way of efficient use of our resources.

Never mind. Folly is inherent in people; if you can figure out how to profit from it, fools can pay for your children's private schools and a very big house for you.