Is acupuncture scientifically proven? Is reflexology scientifically proven?

[Cowboy_Man]

Which do you prefer and why? I suffer from chronic headaches and am looking for alt. forms of treatment instead of taking all theses meds. I want to know if either of these is good at helping headaches. Thanks

 

[Dave]

What Gary said.

While a mild placebo effect might possibly help, in your case you clearly are suffering severe pain and it's extremely unlikely that these sham 'treatments' will help at all. They're certainly not scientifically proven.

 

[thenoseknows]

Acupuncture/TCM has been around for over 5000 years. Recent studies have proved it works for a variety of conditions and headaches are one of them. Reflexology is a form of acupressure (acupuncture without the needles) performed on your feet. It can also get rid of headaches. Both methods work by increasing circulation and improving/freeing up blocked nerve impulses. The most important fact is that millions of people have been helped by these treatments. Things that don't work tend to go he way of the dodo bird.
Be skeptical about people who pound the pulpit of "scientism" when it comes to non-mainstream treatments for common medical problems. Plenty of trolls on here make false and misleading claims stating that there's no evidence for something or other. Their agenda has nothing to do with helping people get better. You'll end up sitting around with headaches waiting to get slapped in the face with research.
If you do your own research into prescription drugs you'll find that the studies they depend on can be rigged to show favourable results, peer reviews have been faked by doctors who've been bribed to present drug company scripted articles, and conclusions don't match up with the actual results. The same drugs that are supposed to be "safe" are recalled after 30 to 200,000 people dropped dead after taking them. So much for being "scientifically proven".

 

[Gary Y]

Both have no plausibility. Acupuncture was developed by ancient cultures which had no model of how the human body works. It has been thoroughly tested; the overall literature shows that it works no better than placebo, and it doesn't matter where the needles are inserted - this shows that there is no such thing as meridians, acupuncture points or Qi.

Reflexolgy is unable to beat placebo in clinical trials, and a 2009 systematic review of the best evidence available found that reflexology is not an effective treatment for any medical condition.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19740047
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflexology#Criticism
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?cat=8

-------
EDIT: @thenoseknows, how dare YOU accuse people like me of making false and misleading claims. My answer is nothing but the truth and is supported with citations. As opposed to you, who frequently lies here with gems like homeopathy cures epilepsy, asthma and cancer, and you refuse to back up these claims with a single shred of evidence when asked. Its clear you are a fraud - if you don't agree then please provide your scientific proof that acupuncture and reflexology "work by increasing circulation and improving/freeing up blocked nerve impulses". After all, that was what the question was.

 

[JLI]

Both acupuncture and reflexology are supposed to work through mechanisms that are inconsistent with what we know about physiology (how the body works) and anatomy today. But because people have reported benefits from them, attempts have been made to see if these methods work anyway, and do so beyond the placebo effect (The effect created by expecting it to work and all that).

It turns out, that these systems can't do anything that a placebo can't do. So you have two systems that (with present day knowledge) look like placebo and work like placebo. In short science tells you that these to systems do not have effects of their own.

 

[Flizbap 2.0]

They both have a very slim sliver of anecdotal evidence and poorly done studies to show some evidence as pain relieving treatments, but neither have ever been shown to be much more effective then a placebo in any high quality study or trial.

 

[Zwench]

I don't know about reflexology but acupuncture works great for some problems. I don't expect acupuncture would work if hormones are causing the headaches. If you can rule that out, there's a good chance it will help. Don't expect them to go away with only one session though. Acupuncture therapy usually takes 10 or more treatments.

 

[William T]

They are both nonsense and have been proven not to work. Try reading about them on www.sciencebasedmedicine.org .

 

[Mistress]

Listen, these fools will take your money and tell you whatever you want to hear. Quantum elbowology will cure you. Now, send me your money by paypal and I can do QE over a distance and cure you. QE is scientificallyproven,