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by DanBC 3751 days ago
You can look at sites like the Cochrane Collaboration or NICE.

Cochrane provide meta-analysis of various treatments. The meta review include a good summary of the paper. Here's their list of stuff about acupuncture: http://www.cochrane.org/search/site/acupuncture

NICE reviews evidence of safety and efficacy to try to decide if the English NHS should offer (and thus pay for) a treatment. Nice will sometimes say "do this", sometimes they'll say "we don't have enough evidence to say either way", and sometimes they'll say "do not do". If they recommend to not do something it's because they have plenty of evidence of harm. Here's their list of stuff about acupuncture (a lot of which is of the "do not do" recommendation): http://www.nice.org.uk/search?q=acupucture

England is also introducing "personal health budgets" for people with long term conditions. This is a small pot of money that the patient can spend pretty much how they wish (not on debt, gambling, alcohol, tobacco, or anything illegal) so long as they can persuade a panel. This could include homeopathy or acupuncture. For example: Imagine a person who is frequently and severely self-harming. (They attend emergency department every week, and they're usually admitted from ED into hospital for surgery.) This person may feel that a joining a 5-a-side soccer club and getting acupuncture would help reduce either the frequency or severity of their self harm. http://www.nhs.uk/choiceintheNHS/Yourchoices/personal-health... https://www.england.nhs.uk/healthbudgets/

1 comments

The NICE results are interesting:

"Do not use acupuncture to treat hyperbilirubinaemia", "Do not offer acupuncture for treating lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in men.", "Acupuncture is not recommended for the management of otitis media with effusion (OME)."

But it is an option for low back pain https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg88/chapter/1-guidance