If you are looking into the myriad of methods available to get off the evil cancer sticks, it is no surprise that some time might be spent deciding whether acupuncture to stop smoking is worth a try. Let me explain why I think it probably isn't a very good idea.
Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese approach to medicine. It is from a time where scientific method was not recognised. It was from a time when science itself didn't exist and if it did it would be considered evil. It is from a time when people believed dragons roamed the plains and mountains of China.
The evidence for using acupuncture to stop smoking has so far drawn a blank and it demonstrates no more effectiveness than placebo procedures. And why should you not be surprised at this?
Well, as a treatment it has no biological or anatomical or histological basis. Because of the time in which it was devised was a dark age, there was no way of verifying the approach or devising it with the stringency that could be said of modern treatments and drug therapies.
Medical approaches that are used today are subjected to stringent evidence based testing including blind and double blind tests. This means that the approaches for most modern medical treatments are successful and we don't spend our lives drinking bats blood and eating horse hair to cure our ailments.
Another reason why I think it would be foolish to consider acupuncture to quit smoking is precisely because it is an ancient approach. Smoking came about with the native American Indians some five or six thousand years ago. It was only in the 16th century that it reached Europe and the Far East.
The Cochrane Review studied the effectiveness of acupuncture to stop smoking (including related therapies such as laser treatment) and found that there was no evidence to suggest it had any effect greater than the placebo effect.
It is common for people to need some form of crutch to help them quit smoking. I believe that acupuncture to stop smoking is just such a crutch.
Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese approach to medicine. It is from a time where scientific method was not recognised. It was from a time when science itself didn't exist and if it did it would be considered evil. It is from a time when people believed dragons roamed the plains and mountains of China.
The evidence for using acupuncture to stop smoking has so far drawn a blank and it demonstrates no more effectiveness than placebo procedures. And why should you not be surprised at this?
Well, as a treatment it has no biological or anatomical or histological basis. Because of the time in which it was devised was a dark age, there was no way of verifying the approach or devising it with the stringency that could be said of modern treatments and drug therapies.
Medical approaches that are used today are subjected to stringent evidence based testing including blind and double blind tests. This means that the approaches for most modern medical treatments are successful and we don't spend our lives drinking bats blood and eating horse hair to cure our ailments.
Another reason why I think it would be foolish to consider acupuncture to quit smoking is precisely because it is an ancient approach. Smoking came about with the native American Indians some five or six thousand years ago. It was only in the 16th century that it reached Europe and the Far East.
The Cochrane Review studied the effectiveness of acupuncture to stop smoking (including related therapies such as laser treatment) and found that there was no evidence to suggest it had any effect greater than the placebo effect.
It is common for people to need some form of crutch to help them quit smoking. I believe that acupuncture to stop smoking is just such a crutch.
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