Is Acupuncture a Pseudoscience?

Is acupuncture a pseudoscience?

Intro: Many people do not believe in Chinese medicine, especially the acupuncture, according to many sources, acupuncture is proved to be a pseudoscience. The mechanism of acupuncture is also considered to be pseudoscientific. In this essay, major issues related to acupuncture will be discussed, several arguments will be presented and evaluated. Logical deductions and reliable sources’ proofs will be listed, in order to reveal the truth about the mysterious acupuncture. Your introduction needs more detail, it needs to be like an essay plan. Foreshadow what you will argue and what you will conclude.

Traditional Chinese medical theory describes special acupoints, or acupressure points, that lie along meridians, or channels, in your body. These are the same energy meridians and acupoints as those targeted with acupuncture. It is believed that through these invisible channels flows vital energy -- or a life force called qi (ch'i). It is also believed that these 12 major meridians connect specific organs or networks of organs, organizing a system of communication throughout your body. The meridians begin at your fingertips, connect to your brain, and then connect to an organ associated with a certain meridian.

In Chinese traditional medical theory, acupressure points is a system that lie on the meridians in your body. In this system, through all the meridians, it connects almost all organs in the human body. An energy called “Qi” is believed to flow through the meridians, and illness will occur when the “Qi” is unbalanced in the body. The aim of the treatment is to restore the balance of the “Qi” in the human body.

However, ”Qi” is already proved to be pseudoscientific, as the main mechanism of acupressure, it turns out that the whole

P1 *Do pressure points exist?

“Pressure points”, or “acupressure points” is regarded as a ,

P2 * Acupuncture is a pre-scientific superstition

Proponents often cite acupuncture’s ancient heritage as a virtue, but I see it as a vice. Acupuncture was developed in a pre-scientific culture, before anything significant was understand about biology, the normal functioning of the human body, or disease pathology. The healing practices of the time were part of what is called philosophy-based medicine, to be distinguished from modern science-based medicine. Philosophy-based systems began with a set of ideas about health and illness and based their treatments on those ideas. The underlying assumptions and the practices derived from them were never subjected to controlled observation or anything that can reasonably be called a scientific process.

An example from Western culture of philosophy-based medicine was the humoral theory – the notion that health was the result of the four bodily humors being in proper balance while illness reflected one or more humors being out of balance. Treatments therefore sought to increase or decrease one or more of the humors (such as the practice of blood-letting) to re-establish balance. The humoral theory survived for several thousand years in Western societies, perpetuated by culture and the power of deception inherent in anecdotal evidence.