Madam, – Paul O’ Donoghue’s criticism (Science Today, February 10th) that acupuncture is solely based on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) principles and theory, and particularly flow of chi, is somewhat misleading. Acupuncture, while derived from TCM, is increasingly recognised as a safe and potentially effective form of pain treatment, when integrated into mainstream health care as a form of sensory stimulation, and based upon accepted understanding of neurophysiology.
The UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Population Science Graduate Certificate in Healthcare (Acupuncture), is offered solely to doctors and appropriate allied health professionals, for the treatment of people with painful musculoskeletal conditions. The course, including its philosophy and its content, is fundamentally different to the University of Middlesex undergraduate courses on TCM referred to in the article.
The evidence for the effectiveness of acupuncture in the management of musculoskeletal conditions has been established in the scientific literature. The Cochrane Collaboration (international, independent, not-for-profit organisation dedicated to evaluating scientific evidence from randomised controlled trials) has published systematic reviews reporting moderate evidence for the benefits of acupuncture in terms of pain relief for patients with chronic neck pain, and both pain relief and functional improvement in patients with chronic low back pain.
Regarding chronic knee pain, a systematic review and meta-analysis of high quality randomised controlled trials (1,334 patients) has reported significant long-term improvements in pain and function (measured by the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index).
In addition, the UK National Institute of Clinical Excellence Guidelines, National Collaborating Centre for Primary Care and the Royal College of General Practitioners (2009) have recently included acupuncture in their recommendations for the early management of persistent non-specific low back pain.
As part of our mission, teaching in healthcare in UCD is informed by research; the current scientific evidence warrants the inclusion of the graduate certificate healthcare (acupuncture) course. – Yours, etc,