LONDON - Acupuncture, the traditional Chinese therapy, is used
by almost half of GPs but still doesn't count as mainstream
medicine, the British Medical Association said Sunday.
A postal survey by the BMA found that of the 365 GPs who
responded 46 per cent said they were sending patients for
acupuncture or practicing it themselves, and more than
three-quarters said it should be available on the NHS.
A review of research on acupuncture, by the BMA's Board of
Science and Education, concludes it is effective against nausea and
vomiting especially after surgery, and valuable for treating back
pain, toothache and migraine.
It is less clear that it works against osteoarthritis and neck
pain or helps recovery from a stroke, tension headache or joint
dysfuntion. But acupuncture is of no use in helping people give up
smoking or lose weight, the report says.
Vivienne Nathanson, of the BMA, said: ``We need to see more
high-quality research into the effectiveness of acupuncture. That
National Institute for Clinical Excellence has been established to
look into the value of treatments. NICE should put complementary
medicine, especially acupuncture into its next round of reviews.''
She said the answer to whether acupuncture was a mainstream or
complementary therapy depended on the explanation of its effects.
The Chinese explanation relied on meridians and energy fields while
the Western version cited endorphins (chemicals in the brain) and
``gate theory'' to account for their release.
Dr. Richard Halvorsen, the secretary of the British Medical
Acupuncture Society and a GP at the Hoborn Medical Centre in
London, said he was ``bowled over'' by the figures. ``It signifies
a mind-change in attitudes to complementary medicine among doctors.
We have passed a watershed,'' he said.
