Dr Gleditsch Replies
1995-11-01 00:00:00
replies: Dr Gleditsch jounal A thinnet Dr tonlewhat bc)lLtsed myseli at Shoesn)ith's I an in question, ny own ceftaiDly, lettet, as the articles Sir, inlroduction to the practising were clearly intendec! as an a Ceneral Praclilioncr who has beef I a.. pal' ' as opposed to a 'i ,o. r'" rriou. clitliaal usc of their te(hniques r'LJrJr' urc ur 8 or \- jn Ior lheir cfficacy. I review of lhe scientific evklenc-^ lattended lhe BMAS Basic Coursc sceptic, ,,ust lrials be an year. take me lofg to entitely agrcc that c(rntrolled earl,\, ast lt did not Manchcster populatisalian of any trcatment es-rerlla/ c/cmenl in the fealise that acupLmcturc is an effective clinical benefit in greatly practice of mcdicine. methad of treatmeDt, but observ-.d which has enhanced my eflects is inevitablJ, a my colleagues the absencc of detrimental side lwould struSgle, howcvel to convince -n'.Llr.tppntettt tt'tnB ,ttun. 1r t\ Iittt' i.,n' .' ysis my its value by any sci-.ntific ana of cases. of lt point lrom his personal pfoblem: taken thc that Dr Shocsnith observes This is ouf lhose of us who have pu exp-or ience w ith ac u nctu re. plungc knolv by our expcrience that aclrpLlncturc over 20 ycars of proporiion whom Oral acupLtnctLlre has withstnod works well in a of those on Eood practised some 1,004 peers persrading clinir:al use, being nov, by we Lrsc it. ProvinS lhis lo our and lhc watld. is denfi-st-s and ENf sufge.rns all avet to learn some of thc techniques anolher them is nal a lechnique Because o{ its specialiserl nature, it entifely. matter or that illitiallJ, appeals ta the majarity oi do.tors, is not aided, I ieel, by some of the material Our cause "Acupuncturc performed. None ntore reseirah woulcl havc been is published h in Medicine". which "r/a/s" have been the |css, the ben-.lits of aral acupuncture and which would Pseudoscientiiic spcculation publishecl it1 trials, nainly confirntecl by controlled sit side by side, to any objective analysis not stand up _fhe (lnich et al in in Cerman. The laLest ), ENI current lssue lorrfnals to deptess the readef. consplring "Der is trom the pain Schtnerz", the Cen|nian pflnle examples ioLtrnal 1-l No 1) contains some fvo/. and is llospital .)f Munich atthe university clinic Patrick Dain on l(oryo Hand AcLrpuncture, 1n his.rlicle "Clinical "sysie/r": of immediate study for evitlence entitled thc oriSin ot this Magovcrn describes pain on and "Dr forms of acLtputtcture pa/t effects af various las Yoo ,., \ awoken Dy a severe Ta-. WL)o placeba This cervi.al spine". nobilitv af tlle back to his head and coulcl not in the back of 1et siginificant stttcly dcmonstratecl blind of his contrclle.l, himseli staring at th-' back Fte founcl sl-.cp. includinB microsysle',s, using acLlputlcture pain relief ptemonition thal his head fing.er with a niciclle "Adam presli]ioLls won lhe and He oral acupirtclure, a poitlt on the hand relieved throLt1h cctulcl be for the Llniversit;it l-udwig Maximilians ot Prize" oi'the iitlier with the tip back of his tltiddle oaloatecl the 'a publishec) from the research particular best acadenmic pen he founcl a and when ballpoirtt in English inclLtale those articles uni\,ersitt,. Othet into il: suddenly his a needle r"nrl"r arca inserted p,one." was headache "discavcry" to work temains nuch ntore research lt is trLte that ol ol lhe This is reminiscenl in micr'osystems done ctrt acLlputlctLtre !,encral, based b-. anothcr honlunculus lr diagnosis/lridology, "pseudoscientitic lhcy arc nerely to say that in 1838, lgnaaz but I2 old boy when as a svstem. Vear wett Known our own laxilS evet to is in the lrls oi an speculatiotl" spot appear noticed a darl< Peczelv humaLtr' seDse a)l of its legs' Bavarian broke one h" accldenlal n* ai Y contlnues: Masovern "tir phalanx af his the .!ist,1l Yoa hact visualised (l995) slld e Kl nische C cdlls.h et Jl. lrn .h D, Uehrcns J 1. L of the body the heacl as represenling ri_'dcner intlex firtt-.r vcrsc vo, soforteilektei z!nr na.hwei\ cler a similar cort-ospondence !nd beNcEllchkeit whether arrl schmerz anti he wondcrecl ak!DU kturiorm-.n 'be ;tnd various DcfSch,tctz SuDpl l/t5:32 the hand hi sw s:i! e. the rest of existe(l bet\\,ecn Rhatogl 5!ppl ol si.usitis. I 981) Treatmcnt 2. GlediLs.h i revea/ed Further experimetts llrsl Dafts of the bodv. 'sttch I :231 /81 hand so K()ryo and a c:orrespondence, oi sin!silLs (1976) BioPhrs cal tteatmcrl .1. Cledils.h I began". acupuncture l n Iakra of /siAN -Syrrpasi Pro.eednrrs he Let lnto ot we rnust CR' ell AspecrJ (1986) 12. Inr Pfr Lz furlhcr experjments? Chaptcr What 1. C elibch i lreSln to Th eme, New \brk:'rrl l0:l can even ! .lrsersc. belore we Mdniar. of thesc secrets some 'i rhe 'eryicrL tv n lat on Pfoblcrns caurcd 5. S.!er ll {r !rll5) our disbeliell suspend lh€ ENT doctor' trcatnrent b)' thcir spccir soinc aff (another on C)ral AcLrpunctllrc the article Acain. BetliD) sulP],l tSptn)Fet, OktRlrtro l.rrvnsaiaEr' ,\r.li,es ot Left rne benlLlsed Cleditsch by r.icrosvstern), Jochen 2lt5:191-1 ll^ rr're ."- r' ,.ria- o ir, I diola u. d L Lon5,.r' evidence bY anY conoborated reqlies: and Dr Magovern 'ti11it preier less lrcquentLy a thinner, or \hor'nttth to see ull\ 'n I would ith : .npt'h,1a A Dt as items such one in which publishecl than colleagues to his Journal acupLtnclute exDlaining dav. sec the Light of allowed to eminent US ihese are P-'tt an .ls aardace LJltinately, "Acupunctttrc works said, bi()logical scienlist MRCCP David Shoesmith used lor I wns "\,arks". Acupuncturc bccausc lt Statian Road The SLlrger., lvas the /east years lrere belore several thousand yotks '