That’s exactly what I am talking about @GRamsay. No one could give you a physiological mechanism of acupuncture AFAIK. A really good mate is qualified in TCM acupuncture and he doesn’t believe it does anything. In studies it performs poorly but still people feel less pain afterwards.
I had people come to me in agony, bent over unale to stand upright, and so on. I crack their lower back and their pain is gone or almost gone. Nothing is ‘back in place’ or inflammatory markers changed but they feel so much better.
ETA: for ‘cracking backs’ there is some evidence of neural inhibition to cause a reduction in pain. But no to levels that you sometimes see in practice.
I have dozens and dozens of acupuncture sessions, dry needling, cups and the ‘burning ash’ treatment. Asian culture (and by extension me) uses these kind of treatments as preventative, they don’t go to the Drs when there is something wrong, they go to maintain health.
My old private health allowed for $1000 p/a of ‘non traditional’ medicine and treatment. So i became a human dartboard!
I agree with others here, I did some research on the ultrasound thing and couldn’t find any decent evidence or proper scientific explanation of why it would work so now if I need to see a physio and they start with ultrasound I’ll be leaving and finding someone else. Acupuncture make more sense to me by far.
