A new acupuncture study has just come out of Munich's Technical University in Germany.  Not surprisingly, the researchers concluded that acupuncture is effective in treating chronic pain - but doctors don't know why.  They state that "Much of the clinical benefit of acupuncture might be due to non-specific needling effects and powerful placebo effects, meaning selection of specific needle points may be less important than many practitioners have traditionally argued."  I argue that the reasons for acupuncture's efficacy can't be revealed by using the current modern methods of research.  Doctors don't understand why it works because they're only thinking inside of their own frameworks of research.  I don't have a better model in mind, but I also don't think that they're using the right tools for the job.  And i suspect that those tools have yet to be invented.

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/health/news/article_1460966.php/Acupuncture_effective_for_chronic_pain_-_but_doctors_dont_know_why_

I just came across this interview which was written up in the Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana recently on 2/1/09.  Columnist Jeff Manes interviews Dr. Tieh Wang, an 82 year-old retired laboratory director, who grew up near Beijing.  Dr. Wang has interesting insights into pre- and post-Maoist China.  He says that "Acupuncture would be dead without Mao Tse-Tung" since Mao created two kinds of hospitals;  modern and traditional.  The traditional hospitals offer the traditional medicines of China including acupuncture.  According to Dr. Wang, Mao was a rebel from the countryside, where there were no doctors to treat the soldiers.  Therefore, acupuncture was a common modality.  Also, rural dwellers couldn't afford doctors, so they turned to the local healers.  The interview is a worth a quick read for his other life experiences from Taiwan to Rochester NY to the midwest. 

http://www.post-trib.com/news/manes/1405970,salt.article