Take your ball and go home.
Quote:
Originally posted by Jack Squat
Ok guys, I give up. You won't be swayed no matter what, so I'll stop trying. Honestly, what would it take for you to at least say "maybe"? No matter what study that you see, you will point out suspected flaws (why didn't the editors of JAMA toss out the study(s) is it wasn't valid? Maybe they don't know what they're doing?). I will leave you with a documented medical case study (yes I realize that one case study doesn't prove anything):
Of course we'll point out suspected flaws. I would expect you to do the same. It's the only way to determine what the research is showing us.
One problem I've had throughout this discussion is some participants (FWIW, I don't include you in this category) apparent lack of anything resembling critical thinking skills. I have a vain hope part of this discussion (particularly, critiques of various research methodologies) might affect this.
Quote:
A 17 year old male was injured in a scuba accident. He busrts his sinuses in four places (bilateral frontal and ethmoid). He went to his PC (primary care) physician who referred him to a specialist (eyes, ears, nose, and throat specialist) to deal with the complications of the burst. After using imaging techniques, the specialists confirmed the bursts and simply told the patient "there is nothing I can do for your condition, except give you anti-biotics for the associated sinus infection. You will heal naturally in six months for the initial complaint, and it will take who-knows-how-long for the secondary complaint to heal. Come back and see me in 2 weeks so I can check on the infection". ( I don't want to waste my time typing details-email me if you want them).
The patient proceeded to see his acupuncturists, who treated him and by the time the patient went to the EENT (eyes, ears, nose, throat) specialist for his 2 week follow up, he was completely cured. This was quite shocking to the EENT, who stated that he had never seen anything like it.
Would you expect this to be widely reproducible?
If it is, it's miracle medicine.
If not, it might be better viewed in the same light as spontaneous remission of cancer.
What will it take to say maybe? Well, I thought I already did for chronic pain. Anyhow, feel free to label me a chauvinist, but it wouldn't hurt to have a mechanism of healing grounded in something more measurable than qi.
Maybe you can explain something for me, if I were an advocate for TCM, I'd be clamoring for the most rigorous research into it available. Why? Because it would provide me immediate and long-term benefits. Instead, most advocates appear to revile the idea. Indulging me for a minute, why do you think this is?