[thedoc (OP)]

Faith Mackenzie  asked the Naked Scientists:
   
How does acupuncture work?

What do you think?

[Pecos_Bill]

The way it works is to find some vulnerable person whom you can convince that they need "maintenance" visits for the rest of their life.

The patient comes in and you perform your hocus-pocus nonsense <<but>> (and here is the clincher) while you are doing your shtick you make sympathetic noises while the patient tells you his current peeves.

Remember. Cash up front and no credit.

You don't need a license to stick people in the UK --it's that kind of scam -straight out of Moliere. You do need to be registered as a "skin piercer"which puts you on the level of tattoo "artists".

A few minutes on Google will show you how to obtain a very professional diploma (only for "novelty" use, of course).

Is it clinical? There was a fully licensed MD in Firebaugh, California who was generally  totally smashed before 10 AM. However, he knew when somebody was really sick and would reliably send them the 40 miles to the county hospital. The rest he shmoozed and gave the odd shot of B-12. That - and the fact that you couldn't find a sober doctor willing to work in Firebaugh kept him in practice until his liver gave out. The newspaper eulogized him as the sort of country doctor that you couldn't find anymore. (alas!) The doc they had after him was caught shooting up during his lunch break. The one after him left to work in a mission hospital in Kenya where they fired him after 3 months.

Who is to say, then, that acupuncture doesn't compare with the reality of modern medicine.

[Bored chemist]

How does acupuncture work?