Positive Health Online

Abstract

BERMAN and co-workers, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21207, USA, have reported on a randomixed controlled trial of acupuncture as a complementary therapy for osteoarthritis of the knee.

Background

The aim of this study was to determine whether acupuncture provides greater pain relief and improved function compared with sham acupuncture or education in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee.

Methodology

570 patients with osteoarthritis of the knee were randomized to receive either 23 true acupuncture sessions over 26 weeks (treatment group), or 6 two-hour sessions over 12 weeks or 23 sham acupuncture sessions over 26 weeks (control groups). Changes in pain and function scores at 8 and 26 weeks were the primary outcome measures.

Results

Participants in the true acupuncture group experienced greater improvement in function scores than the sham acupuncture group at 8 weeks (mean difference, -2.9; p = 0.01) but not in pain score (mean difference, -0.5; p = 0.18) or the patient global assessment (mean difference, 0.16; p > 0.2). At 26 weeks, the true acupuncture group experienced significantly greater improvement than the sham group in the function score (mean difference, -2.5; p = 0.01), pain score (mean difference, -0.87; p = 0.003), and patient global assessment (mean difference, 0.26; p = 0.02).

Conclusion

Acupuncture appears to provide improvement in function and pain relief when used as an adjunctive therapy for osteoarthritis of the knee.

References

Berman BM, Lao L, Langenberg P, Lee WL, Gilpin AM, Hochberg MC. Effectiveness of acupuncture as adjunctive therapy in osteoarthritis of the knee: a randomized, controlled trial. Annals of Internal Medicine 141 (12): 901-910, Dec 21, 2004.