Auricular Acupuncture: A Word in Your Foetus Like...
Sunday, January 11, 2009
FIH has been regularly criticised for being hopelessly naive and uncritical of alternative medicine. FIH likes to call quackery ' Integrative Medicine' and sound like it is calling for the integration of 'natural' ways of healing with modern healthcare. In reality, it does little but uncritically promote bonkers charlatanism.
The latest promotion comes in the form a news item on their web site telling us that "Dr Richard Niemtzow has developed a form of 'Battlefield acupuncture' which will be used by the US Air Force in Iraq and Afghanistan." We are told that,
This method of acupucture [sic] involves inserting very tiny semi-permanent needles into very specific acupoints in the skin on the ear to block pain signals from reaching the brain. This method can lessen the need for pain medications that may cause adverse or allergic reactions or addiction.Remarkable stuff. Niemtzow is the Editor in Chief of Medical Acupuncture, the journal of the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture. Are we seeing the integration of ancient Chinese practices into modern battlefield care? Of course not. The whole thing is a fanciful charade.
...
'This is one of the fastest pain attenuators in existence,' said Dr. Niemtzow 'The pain can be gone in five minutes.
Auricular Acupuncture, or Ear Acupuncture, or even auricolotherapy, is indeed part of what is called 'Traditional Chinese Medicine'. It was included into Mao's re-invention of Chinese medicine as part of the Cultural Revolution's Barefoot Doctors' repertoire. However, the roots of ear acupuncture do not lie in ancient Chinese medical beliefs but in 1950's France. Yes, like its auricular cousin, Hopi Ear Candling - also found in your High Street Chinese Medicine Shop, it has roots that are thoroughly western. Ear Candling is a recent invention and nothing to do with the Hopi Tribe - who are hopping mad about the appropriation of their name to Western quackery.
The UK Auricular Acupuncture College tell us that it "is an ancient Oriental therapy using acupuncture on points of the ear to treat specific parts of the body". This looks like it is simply untrue. In a 2007 review, published in Evidence Based Complement Alternative Medicine, Luigi Gori and Fabio Firenzuoli tell us that ear acupuncture was invented by Lyon based doctor, Dr Paul Nogier, who is now known as the "Father of modern auricolotherapy".
The son of Paul Nogier, Raphaël Nogier, tells us,
1951, Paul NOGIER received in his consultation a patient, who explained to him that he was relieved from a sciatica pain by a cauterisation on the ear carried out by a quack in Marseille, Madame BARRIN
Nogier's remarkable 'insight' was to realise that the ear was a little homunculus - a man in the ear - in the form of a foetus. Thus, sticking a pin in the right part of the ear could somehow heal the corresponding part of the body. It turns out that Dr Nogier was a homeopath and so we do not need to concern ourselves too greatly about the battiness of these ideas.Nogier's son, Raphaël, continues the pace of invention admirably and has developed this science to even greater extents. From Madame Barrin's humble quackery has grown a mighty and imaginative worldwide quackery. Electrical instruments are used to detect the appropriate points on ears to stick pins in. Furthermore, Nogier developed "auriculomedicine" - a technique for diagnosing problems by measuring the pulse whilst putting pressure on various parts of the ear.
It would appear that the French ear pin therapy quickly spread via Japan back to China where it was re-interpreted in terms of Chinese acupuncture:
The discovery of the system spread to China and led to intensive research by the Chinese medical authorities at a time of renewed interest in Traditional Chinese Medicine. After learning about the Nogier ear charts in 1958, a massive study was initiated by the Nanjing Army Ear Acupuncture research Team. This Chinese medical group verified the clinical effectiveness of the Nogier approach and assessed the conditions of over 2000 clinical patients, recording which ear points corresponded to specific diseases. The outcome of that research was very positive and resulted in the utilization of this therapy by the ‘Barefoot Doctors’ of the Cultural Revolution. In China was published an Ear Chart remarkably similar to that of Dr Nogier in 1958.So, from the Chinese Army to the US Air Force. Richard Niemtzow, MD, PhD, MPH appears to have been developing his own version of ear acupuncture using tiny needles that you leave in your ear until they drop out. We are told,
Using ancient Chinese medical techniques, a small team of military doctors here has begun treating wounded troops suffering from severe or chronic pain with acupuncture.In a deviation from the Nogier philosophy, Niemtzow believes that the "ear acts as a "monitor" of signals passing from body sensors to the brain. Those signals can be intercepted and manipulated to stop pain or for other purposes." A remarkable scientific discovery. Give that man a Nobel Prize.
The clincher for me is that he calls on the Wisdom of Pirates. Niemtzow says" Even 18th-century pirates were convinced of the value, piercing their lobes with earrings 'to improve their night vision'". Did the British ever tell the US that eating carrots improved the night vision of Royal Air Force pilots during the Battle of Britain?
This French, Chinese and Pirate wisdom is proving very useful apparently as "Battlefield acupuncture has been especially effective among patients suffering from a combination of combat wounds, typically a brain injury or severed limbs, burns and penetrating wounds along with severe disorientation and anxiety."
So, we shall see. It has yet to be deployed into Iraq battlefield operations and has to "overcome skepticism within the ranks of military doctors". I doubt it ever will be. What we do know is that the organisation that Niemtzow works for does quite a good job of promoting acupuncture in the US. For an academic institution, it is quite surprising to find on their home page that the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture says that it can "Find an Acupuncturist Near You".
Well done to the Foundation for Integrated Health for uncritically carrying this story. I am sure the acupuncturists of the USA are very pleased.
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If you want to know more about Niemtzow, the excellent blog Science Based Medicine takes him apart here.
Labels: acupuncture, Prince Charles, pseudoscience, quacks, Traditional Chinese Medicine
















