Question: How could you prove or disprove the mechanism of acupuncture? Is it just a placebo effect?

James Holloway answered on 18 Mar 2013:

To prove or disprove it you’d set up an experiment.

You’d have a group of people who receive acupuncture, a group that thinks they receive it but doesn’t really, and a group that doesn’t receive it and knows it (the control group). Then you have to find a way of measuring their problems before and after and compare the results of the three groups to see if the ones that really had the treatment did feel better than the others.

If the groups that did, and thought they did receive the treatment had the same improvement it would show that it is simply the placebo effect (which is a real and useful effect).

Personally, I’ve had acupuncture and I did feel better after. I’d compare it to a massage (put me under a thermal light for a while). But the theory behind acupuncture of the body having energy channels and stuff is unlikely to be true, its ancient superstition.