I found a tirade against acupuncture at one of those “scientific” skeptic sites to which people always refer me to prove their own superiority, and I had to laugh. Some people are so determined to protest anything that can’t be measured in a test tube. Never mind that it actually, you know, works for at least some things:
Acupuncture designed to treat depression appears to improve symptoms in pregnant women, suggesting it as an alternative to antidepressant medication during pregnancy, a study found.
The study, published Monday in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, is the largest to date examining the effectiveness of acupuncture to treat depression in pregnant women. It was funded by a grant from the government’s Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. “Acupuncture that we have tested works for pregnant, depressed women,” said Rachel Manber, a study author and professor at Stanford University. However, “no single study is enough to make policy recommendations,” she said.
Depression in pregnancy is a risk factor for postpartum depression. Postpartum depression is associated in some studies with poorer cognitive and emotional development in children. Some have linked depression in pregnancy and low birth weight.
re “scientific” skeptic sites: I think they do serve a purpose in counteracting the propensity of “alternative medicine” to drift into snake oil territory. If something (like some applications of accupuncture and chiropracty), then those should be documented. But otherwise you get “vaccines cause autism” or homeopathy.
Oh, those sites say acupuncture and chiropractic are quackery, too!