| >Basically, the only way to prove that it works is by showing that modern medicine adopted the approach after systematic evaluation and at that point it is part of modern medicine. I don't think that's true. That study you linked to indicates that it is possible to do clinical research on many alternative modalities. Indeed, I see plenty of papers coming out that make the attempt, and lots of reviews and meta-analyses thereof. They tend to conclude one of two things: - the methodology of the stud[y|ies] is poor - the research is positive but too small in scale/particular in conditions to base decisions on - they don't demonstrate a strong correlation between the application of the treatment and the desired outcome If some of those studies from the second block were repeated with larger, more diverse samples, I'd be less wary of alt med in general, I think. >Another example that still isn't fully accepted is cupping. Wikipedia page on it suggests that it is not useful beyond placebo. But here [1] is a recent study that says it's effective. The Wiki page seems to suggest that cupping, when recommended for chronic neck/shoulder pain, is treated with cautious optimism by most scientists, for the reasons noted above. The study you mentioned is strong methodologically, but the sample size is tiny, and composed primarily of women. >A modern medicine alternative might be to take some kind of painkiller that might damage the liver in large doses. I think this is a pretty unfair stereotype; certainly painkillers are over-prescribed, but that doesn't mean that all of modern medicine is wrapped up in the use of pharmaceuticals. Lifestyle changes, physical therapy, massage, etc. are all things that conventional physicians will recommend. |