One reason why so many people get tricked by acupuncture is worthless studies that get reported in sensational ways such as the one cited by Cheryl . It was based on 3 Chinese studies that would not meet American standards for accuracy so they tried to do it by our wicked Western scientific rules.
[quote]study not too long ago involving people who were deemed to be on tube feeds for the rest of their lives showed a big improvement (I think 75% ) we're able to get off the tube with acupuncture. [/quote]
There were a grand total of 10 patients who were also getting standard swallowing therapy plus "electrical accupunture" which is a version of VitaStim electrical therapy. Hardly Qi but plain old AC/DC that makes frog legs jump and can also jump start stalled swallowing muscles. Oh and already before they started the accupuncture, 3 of those patients were no longer feeding tube dependent, but they gave them the accupunture treatment anyway. That's always a good way to raise your success rates, treat the ones cured. Not one of these patients even remotely fit the description of "deemed to be on tube feeds for the rest of their lives".

So they got 6 patients off the PEG at best two months before they would have been off the PEG anyway based on the Modified Barim Swallowing test even if they had zero accupunture at all. I am impressed with how honest these doctors were in admitting all this, albeit in confusing medicalise
At least the authors had the honesty to conclude:
H[quote]owever, without prospective and comparative studies, the benefits of acupuncture for dysphagia in this population can not be definitively established.[/quote]
You can read the full study here:
Manuscript for peer related journal
Oh, and I almost forgot they used infrared heat lamps on the legs which not surprisingly made the patients feel better