Good
evening J.V.:
I'm basically
a "whatever works for you" kind of guy, but I never recommend
a treatment until and/or unless there has been at least SOME research
to suggest benefits and ensure that there are no damaging effects. Regarding
acupuncture, there is only one study published on acupuncture in TS
clients, and the results were very positive:
Wu, L,
Li, H & Kang, L. (1996). 156 cases of Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome
treated by acupuncture. Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 16(3),
211-213.
"The
principle of clearing Yangming and nourishing the kidney and heart was
adopted in the treatment of 156 cases of Gilles de la Tourette's Syndrome
with acupuncture. The total effective rate was 92.3%, and the cure rate
in children aged 11-15 years was markedly higher than that in children
6-10 years of age. Among 84 cases with abnormal EEG, the pathological
waves in 54 disappeared or ameliorated after the treatment."
Results,
particularly such suggestive ones, can only be taken VERY seriously
if they are replicated -- that is, until other people conduct similar
studies on acupuncture and get comparable results one must be skeptical.
Otherwise one cannot be sure if the stated improvements really WERE
due to the acupuncture treatment or something else entirely that occurred
during the time period the person was receiving acupuncture treatment.
The single
study cited above, for example, did not have a control (comparison)
group -- it is simply a report on a number of individuals with TS who
showed improvement following acupuncture treatment. In a design like
this, any number of things could have led to the 'real' improvement
in addition to or instead of the acupuncture treatment (medication change,
stress reduction, natural waxing/waning of symptoms, placebo effect).
If I were
to give an educated guess I would probably say that acupuncture, like
massage meditation or chiropractic, may lead to a global reduction in
stress (thus minimizing symptoms overall) and may also remove tension
in certain problem areas of the body (thus minimizing symptoms associated
with those particular areas because one is paying less attention to
those areas). Beyond these nonspecific effects I see nothing in the
treatment that could suggest acupuncture is a 'cure', however.
I hope
this helps J.V. -- cheers!
Dr. Dunc.
