Do you suffer from chronic pain? Maybe acupuncture is just what the doctor ordered. Millions of people say that acupuncture has alleviated their suffering and boosted their bodies, but others insist that it's more rooted in belief than scientific fact. Is acupuncture really the cure for what ails you, or does it only turn you into a human pincushion?
New England Skeptical Society
None of this establishes the existence of qi, or meridians. These are pre-scientific notions that have been discarded by modern biology, chemistry, and physics. The vitalists lost this debate 150 years ago - there is no life force. Qi does not exist. The details of the magic are irrelevant.
The fact that an herb increases white cell function is extremely non-specific. The immune system reacts to just about every foreign substance. This says absolutely nothing about the traditional beliefs about the mechanism of the herb. Herbs are drugs - they can affect the body.
The retrofitting of modern immune function and disease theory to the ancient notions of TCM is amusing. They had no idea about disease or germs or the immune system. The very vague and basic ideas that a strong body will resist illness is no generic that it could fit any modern knowledge of health and disease.
The bottom line - TCM has tought us nothing about how the body actually works. The notion of a vitalistic life force is completely unecessary.
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