UKC

Hi There,

As a climber and acupuncture student I am doing some research into the benefits that climbers get from having acupuncture treatment after an injury.

Any experiences that you could share with me would be appreciated.

Many thanks

In reply to TickleFinger:

As a theatrical placebo acupuncture can have powerful effects on many pain problems but via cognitive mechanisms rather than meridian-related effects.

In reply to TickleFinger:

Here's my anecdote -

About 6 years ago I had one session of acupuncture for some elbow pain. The pain went away within a couple of days.

As an acupuncture student this probably isn't what you want to hear but I agree with Static, cognitive mechanisms all the way.

In reply to TickleFinger:

I went to see a physio for a persistent elbow injury. He did lots of massage and mobility stuff, at the end of the session he asked if I wanted some needle work done. I wasn't really expecting this, my thoughts were 'fill your boots' what's the worst that could happen. I really thought of it as total hippy silliness.

I was extremely skeptical. However, once he started the treatment I had an extremely intense experience, it felt like my arm had 12v battery attached to it. Next day the injury was barely there and fully healed in a matter of days.

I thought acupuncture was a miracle cure. Tried similar treatments for various other injuries with zero effect. So I've no idea what that first experience was but it's totally unreplicatable for me...

In reply to TickleFinger:

If you can bypass the likely sceptiscim of most climbers you may find a sizeable population of people with tennis elbow/ frozen shoulders/chronic neck or low back pain/sciatica who might find some benefit from accupuncture.

Although evidence for traditional chinese medicine like accupunture is poor in quality or entirely lacking (just like much chronic pain treatment), some may find it helps in acute/chronic pain.

If youre open to critisicm and scientific about the likely mechanisms of action I suspect you could get a lot of work from climbers once youre qualified (eg working in conjunction with a physio).

In reply to TickleFinger:

As part of chiropractic (there's a whole other discussion) treatment for chronic back pain a few years back, the chiropractor suggested some acupuncture to 'release' some tightness and make manipulation easier.

She put the pins in and did the treatment there and then. My back felt better a few days later (as was often the case after these sessions) but where the pins had been in got inflamed and I suffered flu-like symptoms for about a week. This might have been coincidence, but you could say the same about people's positive experiences too (regression to mean etc).

I took away from the whole experience that both acupuncture and chiropractic treatment are of questionable efficacy (especially when it comes to long-term, root cause care). The best treatment I've found for my back problems has come from genuine physio, lifestyle changes and staying active.

In reply to TickleFinger:

I had one session once.
I tore something in my thumb and after months of it not getting any better following the doctors advice of immobilising it I went to see a physio who gave me some exercises and it started to mend.
On my last session she asked if she could do some acupuncture and having never had it before I said yes.
She stuck needles in my hand and twiddle them (for the most part totally painless) but she lost me when she put some in my other hand to "balance the flow"
the result was a total loss of pain in my thumb, for about 30 mins then it was back as bad as before.

In reply to TickleFinger:

The evidence is pretty poor or non-existent for acupuncture for everything it claims to cure/treat. Chiropractic is even worse and considerably more dangerous.
The use of bait and switch tactics make these treatments seem like something they are not.

You are asking for anecdotal evidence from people to verify your own pre-concieved ideas. As we all know the plural of anecdote is not data. This is not research though I'm interested in what people have regarding this too.
I'll provide a number of links later regarding the evidence for acupuncture as I'm typing this on my phone.

In reply to higherclimbingwales:

Agree, evidence (I mean good evidence, not anecdote or acupuncture sponsored 'research') is pretty low for acupuncture in nearly all the things it claims to treat.

In reply to TickleFinger:

http://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/tag/acupuncture/

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/bait-and-switch-acupuncture-studies/

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/another-overhyped-acupuncture-study-mis...