2018-05-07, 03:05 AM
As a doctor, I didn’t think much of acupuncture. Then the opioid crisis arrived
Quote:When patients used to ask me if there were any supplements, vitamins, oils, or other alternative therapies that they should be using to manage their pain, the message was simple: “Not really,” I told them, “Unfortunately there isn’t any good evidence for that stuff.” In my examination room, like thousands of others across the Western world, the “pain ladder” reigned supreme. But in the midst of an opioid epidemic that’s killing by the thousands, and bearing in mind that there’s some evidence for acupuncture, when does our compassion and our oath as physicians to “do no harm” trump the status quo?
In December, the American Pain Society endorsed the use of acupuncture for chronic pain, suggesting that this ancient technique could be part of a new, holistic approach within the context of Western medicine. When a frustrated patient, walking the dark path toward opioid addiction, asks me if they should try acupuncture, at least now I can tell them it’s worth a shot.