Acupuncture helps where conventional medicine can't even diagnose

A valid diagnosis is necessary to getting appropriate alopathic (that is, conventional Western) medical care. (This is why "House" is such a popular show: there's a lot of inherent drama in wrong diagnoses, because they can lead to chaos, suffering and hideous deaths.) Unfortunately, fully 20% of those who seek ongoing care don't get one.

No pressure.

The Chinese were developing diagnostic strategies before my British Isles ancestors were even sure how babies were made, so I view this intensely patronizing, very cagy terminology with a jaundiced eye, but the study itself looks pretty good:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110530080513.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fmind_brain+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Mind+%26+Brain+News%29

As well as dramatic improvements in function and well-being, it's interesting to note that these patients made changes in their daily lives, because they felt their acupuncturists really cared (and probably because they knew what they were talking about.)

Do you have <i>any idea</i> how hard it is to persuade people to change the way they eat, move, sleep? Most people would rather put up with hideous suffering and tons of needless ill-health rather than change the pattern of their days. It's incredibly hard to make those changes, and speaking as someone who has had to change all that and more, I'm still not sure why it's so staggeringly hard.

But these practitioners of a well-structured form of acupuncture did it, and did it consistently.

-- Or rather, their patients did, given the combination of good info and perceptible support. Now THAT's a therapeutic relationship.