Thanking the Science of Non-Science

yesterday I was coming up the stairs and my back gave out for no apparent reason. I lay down, and couldn't get up, couldn't move in any direction because the pain in my spine was too great. finally after laying there for a while I was able to crawl to a phone and get someone to bring me to the hospital.

the hospital prescribed me some pain pills and said there was nothing else they could do, and they weren't really sure what the problem was. not exactly what I wanted to hear.

I could, with difficulty, manage to get myself in and out of the car...and hobble around, as long as I kept my back completely straight.

the next morning it was no better, I went to a chiropractor and he did some various things...nothing seemed to make a tremendous impact but when I got home, I was actually able to sort of sit down on the edge of a chair. what a relief.

we also have a very close family friend who is pretty amazing, a kung fu master, who makes his business off of that and concocting herbal medicines and doing acupuncture. a very authentic guy too.

well, I succumbed to the acupuncture, this was my first go at it. my mother has sworn by it ever since it cured her hip problems that thousands of dollars in doctors and state of the art medical knowledge had failed completely to do.

a few needles in the hand, and 30 minutes later I can sit down pretty normally...walk around and almost completely avoid the pain by focusing on my posture.

score 2 for non-science. I recognize that this is nothing new, and you have all heard about the powers of acupuncture before...but I've got to say, it just seems so silly that this still doesn't get more recognition. how can thousands of years of practice and success not be enough to constitute a controlled experiment?

is it because we don't know WHY it works, only that it does work? because that doesn't make it any less scientific. we don't know the WHY for a good portion of what we call science, but that doesn't make it any less tried and true.