RE: Society for Acupuncture Research

[Guest guest]

I went to the SAR conference this past weekend in Cambridge, MA and really

enjoyed it. That conference has really grown over the years. There were

quite a few MD's there doing research and presenting as well as LAc's. Only

two herb studies were presented. One studied gingko and dang shen for memory

loss/improve learning and yeilded positive results, offering that this

combo may be a good substitute for patients who might have used ginseng

therapy instead. the other study was a lab study on rats comparing ru

xiang to the formula Huo luo xiao ling dan, for their effectiveness at

reducing edema and persistent inflammation. The formula was shown to be

better than the single herb with the formula having no side effects at high

doses, where the single herb did. Another interesting talk discussed the

big German research study that is in progress. One arm of that study

finished showing that acupuncture was the best treatment for shoulder pain,

when compared to physical therapy and other conventional treatments. Ted

Kaptchuck gave a nice talk on research in general and how many of the alt.

med studies that are coming out are much better designed than many of the

pharmaceutical studies, because they are including many more variables,

including belief. He had brought up a point of the placebo trial, being at

its core, unethical, and that a recent effort to disgard it greatly upset

the FDA. The explanation for this was that many of the drugs currently on

the market performed as good or worse than placebo. It is also alot harder

to show efficacy when comparing one drug to another than to placebo. Not

news to many of you, just thought I would pass it on and say the conference

was fun.

 

Sean

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Thanks for sharing the results, Sean. Sounds like it was a very

interesting time. I am especially interested in the herbal studies

you've mentioned, sounds like a 'first'.

 

 

On Nov 17, 2003, at 4:19 PM, Sean Doherty wrote:

 

> I went to the SAR conference this past weekend in Cambridge, MA and

> really

> enjoyed it. That conference has really grown over the years. There

> were

> quite a few MD's there doing research and presenting as well as LAc's.

> Only

> two herb studies were presented. One studied gingko and dang shen for

> memory

> loss/improve learning and yeilded positive results, offering that this

> combo may be a good substitute for patients who might have used ginseng

> therapy instead. the other study was a lab study on rats comparing ru

> xiang to the formula Huo luo xiao ling dan, for their effectiveness at

> reducing edema and persistent inflammation. The formula was shown to

> be

> better than the single herb with the formula having no side effects at

> high

> doses, where the single herb did. Another interesting talk discussed

> the

> big German research study that is in progress. One arm of that study

> finished showing that acupuncture was the best treatment for shoulder

> pain,

> when compared to physical therapy and other conventional treatments.

> Ted

> Kaptchuck gave a nice talk on research in general and how many of the

> alt.

> med studies that are coming out are much better designed than many of

> the

> pharmaceutical studies, because they are including many more variables,

> including belief. He had brought up a point of the placebo trial,

> being at

> its core, unethical, and that a recent effort to disgard it greatly

> upset

> the FDA. The explanation for this was that many of the drugs

> currently on

> the market performed as good or worse than placebo. It is also alot

> harder

> to show efficacy when comparing one drug to another than to placebo.

> Not

> news to many of you, just thought I would pass it on and say the

> conference

> was fun.

>

> Sean

>

>

>