There has been a great deal of research recently designed to prove the efficacy of homeopathy. Around the world homeopathy has been attacked by many skeptics as an implausible and, at best, placebo driven healing method. However the homeopathic community has fought back, and many good randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trials have been completed. Here is a summary of a few of them, more detailed information is available at the National Center for Homeopathy website.
+ Acute Ear Infections – a study of 103 children treated with homeopathy and 53 treated with conventional antibiotics. One result of this study highlights one of the most important differences between conventional treatment and homeopathy, that the overall health of the patient is improved by the homeopathic treatment. Fewer relapses, higher energy, better mood, overall better health is enjoyed by the homeopathic patients. This result is shown here:
Group A had homeopathy, Group B had antibiotics
In group A 70.7% of the patients were free of relapses within 1 years and 29.3% had a maximum of three relapses. Group B had 56.5% without relapses and 43.5% a maximum of six relapses.
+ Mild Traumatic Brain Injury – a study of 60 patients, again the results were clear in the patients given homeopathy that the homeopathic treatment was the only significant or near-significant predictor of improvement on DSS subtests (read the article for more on what these are). It showed a significant effect on the resolution of symptoms from injuries like concussions. I have often seen this in my practice as well, and have used remedies like Arnica in sports related injuries with great effect.
+ Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients – Previous studies have shown that treated and cured pulmonary tuberculosis patients do suffer from pulmonary impairment, lower health related quality of life, and disability. This study over 5 years include 63 patients under homeopathic treatment and 51 given placebo. The results were much better as shown below for the homeopathic patients and also the long term effects were quite a bit better. Once again showing how homeopathic treatment brings about better long term health outcomes.
“Significant improvement was observed with the homeopathy treatment in FEV1 (p<0.001), forced vital capacity (p<0.001), and FEV1/FVC ratio (p=0.002). Symptom scores for cough and breathlessness were significantly lower with homeopathy than with placebo (p<0.001). At the end of treatment, patients on homeopathy had increased body weight (p<0.0001), and better quality of life (p<0.05) compared with placebo (p=0.003). Benefits were maintained in the homeopathy group after a year whereas symptoms (p<0.01) and impact score (p<0.001) deteriorated in placebo. Physicians visits were reduced in the homeopathy group by 58.0% (p =0.002) compared to placebo (p<0.0001).”
More and more research is being down worldwide to show what I have already experienced in my own practice, which is that homeopathy is very effective when practiced well and given a chance to work.