arnica trials (as published in The Wharf)
News that 'arnica no better than placebo' splashed across the UK in February. I encourage everyone to read the entire published trial before passing judgment. The excerpts are taken from the trial as reported in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Vol. 96, Feb. 2003.
Arnica, homeopathy's most recognized remedy for bruising, took a recent beating of its own from Professor Ernst's clinical trial, which caught headline attention. He concluded that arnica was "no better than placebo." Ernst also states that previous arnica trials have provided no evidence the remedy works. However, upon reading the document, I found contradictions. Ernst says, "As well as producing inconsistent results, many of these (arnica) trials have methodological limitations that make the findings unreliable."
With regards to his own trial, Ernst says, "The use of non-parametric tests reduces the likelihood of detecting statistical differences since they are less powerful than parametric tests, particularly with smaller samples." If he has said that his results are unreliable, how can we trust his conclusion that arnica doesn't work? In addition, the patients were put on the drugs paracetemol or diclofenac, powerful painkillers. In my opinion, this does not make it a pure trial of arnica.
Ernst then says, "In previous studies of arnica, statistically significant effects on pain have been reported with groups of 11-30 patients." Ernst also admits that the remedy was not administered using homeopathic methods in his trial. "However, they do not rule out the possibility that individual patients could benefit. The trial did not apply traditional homeopathic principles."
I have a BSc in Business Administration, which required three gruelling courses in Statistics. At the last class in my final year, the teacher said, "Statistics lie. You can make them do whatever you want. Remember that when you base your beliefs on statistical information."
My stepfather recently cracked a rib after tumbling down a hill. He was on painkillers, which were having little effect, and his doctor said it would take weeks to recover. I suggested arnica 30c internally three times a day as well as arnica cream topically on the sore area. When I called a few days later, my mother, who had been catering to his every whim, said in a thoroughly disgruntled voice, "His supposed cracked rib is so much better hes going to play golf this weekend."
And they say that arnica doesn't work...
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