| Acupuncture reduces knee pain, but so does placebo
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Acupuncture is effective in relieving osteoarthritis knee pain, new research suggests, but placebo acupuncture appears to also do the job. As reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine, acupuncture was 53.1-percent successful in treating symptoms of knee osteoarthritis. However, a sham procedure that looked like acupuncture, but provided no actual benefit, was a close second with a success rate of 51.0 percent. Still, the authors are reluctant to dismiss acupuncture as a treatment for knee osteoarthritis. The findings support a role for acupuncture as part of the treatment of "patients with pain and functional limitations due to osteoarthritis of the knee, even if the mechanisms of its effects remain unclear," they write. Acupuncture could add to the effects of more conservative therapy and reduce the need for pain medications.
|
