Word: painful
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Anyone who has suffered from back pain knows that when the throbbing gets bad enough, you'll try anything to find relief - heating pads, acupuncture, pain relievers, physical therapy, even poking yourself with toothpicks...
...toothpicks. Researchers at the Group Health Center for Health Studies in Seattle found that "fake" acupuncture using toothpicks instead of needles was as effective as the traditional Chinese healing method for relieving back pain. (See pictures of spiritual healing around the world...
Daniel Cherkin, a senior investigator at the center, gathered 638 patients with chronic low back pain, none of whom had ever had acupuncture, and gave them one of three different acupuncture treatments. One group received individual care in the classic model of the ancient Chinese practice in which the acupuncturist analyzes the patient's overall health by studying his body and lifestyle, taking his pulse and looking at his tongue (practitioners believe that the condition of a person's tongue is indicative of his total health state) and designs a customized set of acupuncture points that are most likely...
Another group received acupuncture at standardized points, which experienced practitioners agree can help the majority of back-pain sufferers. A final group received the toothpick treatment. These patients were poked with toothpicks inserted through the acupuncture needle tube at the standard points - but unlike with traditional acupuncture, practitioners did not penetrate the patient's skin. Instead, they pricked and then twirled the toothpick to simulate a needle going...
...that they've lost their monopoly on power, many Republicans are warning that spending-fueled deficits will cause inflation, reduce demand for U.S. Treasuries and shaft future generations. They don't seem so worried about an imminent depression, which would explode deficits in addition to the shorter-term pain, and their newfound fear of borrowing has not cooled their ardor for budget-busting tax cuts. "They talk about fiscal restraint, but they've got an atrocious record, and they've still got atrocious plans," says Robert Bixby, executive director of the nonpartisan Concord Coalition...