WASHINGTON – The ancient Chinese therapy of acupuncture can help ease pain and improve movement for people with arthritis of the knee, a new study concludes.
“For the first time, a clinical trial with sufficient rigor, size, and duration has shown that acupuncture reduces the pain and functional impairment of osteoarthritis of the knee,” said Dr. Stephen Straus, director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
“These results also indicate that acupuncture can serve as an effective addition to a standard regimen of care and improve quality of life for knee osteoarthritis sufferers,” Straus said in a statement.
In the largest clinical study of acupuncture reported to date, researchers studied 570 patients age 50 and over with osteoarthritis of the knee. The multilocation study was led by Dr. Brian Berman of the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore.
Acupuncture involves inserting thin needles into specific body points to stimulate the body and improve health and well-being.
The patients all reported significant pain in their knee the month before joining the study, but had never experienced acupuncture, had not had knee surgery in the previous six months and had not used steroid or similar injections.
The participants were divided into three groups – 190 received acupuncture, 191 underwent sham acupuncture and 189 followed the Arthritis Foundation’s self-help course for managing their condition.
The patients also continued to receive standard medical care from their primary physicians.
In both the sham and true acupuncture procedures, a screen prevented patients from seeing the knee treatment area and learning which treatment they received. In the sham acupuncture group needle guides and needles were taped to the skin so the patients would feel some sensation, but the needles were not actually inserted.
The researchers said that by week eight, patients receiving acupuncture began showing a significant increase in function and by week 14 a significant decrease in pain, compared with the sham and control groups.
Overall, the scientists said, those who received acupuncture had a 40 percent decrease in pain and a nearly 40 percent improvement in function.
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