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Taipei doctor tests acupuncture virtues', results inconclusive

People seeking treatment from an acupuncturist for "rotator cuff lesions" -- commonly referred to as frozen shoulder syndrome -- in their left shoulder might be surprised to find the physician sticking a needle in their right calf.

This is not because of a medical mix-up, but rather is based on the venerated acupuncture principle of miuci (繆刺).

Wu Chien-lung (吳建隆), a Chinese medicine practitioner at Taipei City Hospital, put the ancient theory to the test by subjecting 40 men and women suffering from rotator cuff lesions to acupuncture treatment on a pressure point in the calf -- half on the same side as their aching shoulder and half on the opposite side.

"For this experiment we used the same metrics as conventional medicine in order to gauge improvement," Wu said.

The scientific approach failed to yield a clear answer, however, as both groups improved in terms of their range of motion and decreased levels of pain, Wu said.

"The opposite-side group did somewhat better than the same-side group, but it was not a big difference compared to overall improvement," Wu added.

He said that manual muscle testing had failed to observe improvement in either group and that future testing with more objective measures such as x-rays might shed more light on the matter.
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