Acupuncture May Not Help Chronic Knee Pain, Study Finds
Acupuncture May Not Help Chronic Knee Pain, Study Finds
By Tara Haelle
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, Sept. 30, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Acupuncture doesn't improve knee pain any more than "sham" acupuncture, according to a new study.
"Among patients older than 50 years with moderate to severe chronic knee pain, neither laser nor needle acupuncture conferred benefit over sham for pain or function," the study authors wrote. "Our findings do not support acupuncture for these patients."
Sham acupuncture is any form of fake acupuncture, used so that researchers can test whether benefits from the traditional acupuncture may be due to a placebo effect. A placebo effect means a person believes his symptoms have improved despite receiving a fake medication or treatment.
"Subjective measurements such as pain are particularly subject to placebo responses," said study co-author Kim Bennell, a professor of physiotherapy at the University of Melbourne in Australia. "This can be attributed to factors such as the treatment setting, patient expectations and optimism, the physician's confidence in the treatment, and how the physician and patient interact."
In this study, almost 300 adults with chronic knee pain received either needle acupuncture, laser acupuncture (hitting acupuncture spots with a low-intensity laser beam), sham laser acupuncture, or no treatment at all (the "control" group). With the sham treatment, a machine was pre-programmed not to deliver the laser, so neither the patient nor the acupuncturist knew it was a fake treatment.
Participants received 20-minute sessions up to twice a week for three months. They filled out questionnaires about their knee pain at the start of the study, three months later and one year later.
After three months, participants receiving needle, laser and sham acupuncture all experienced similar reductions in knee pain while walking, compared to the control group. The pain improvement was gone at a year, however, and the short-term improvements were too small to make a significant difference in practice, the authors wrote.
And, neither needle acupuncture nor laser acupuncture provided significantly greater relief than sham laser acupuncture, according to the study.
The patients who received needle acupuncture also experienced slightly improved physical function in their knees after three months compared to the control group, but it did not last a year, and a similar improvement was also seen in the sham group.
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, Sept. 30, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Acupuncture doesn't improve knee pain any more than "sham" acupuncture, according to a new study.
"Among patients older than 50 years with moderate to severe chronic knee pain, neither laser nor needle acupuncture conferred benefit over sham for pain or function," the study authors wrote. "Our findings do not support acupuncture for these patients."
Sham acupuncture is any form of fake acupuncture, used so that researchers can test whether benefits from the traditional acupuncture may be due to a placebo effect. A placebo effect means a person believes his symptoms have improved despite receiving a fake medication or treatment.
"Subjective measurements such as pain are particularly subject to placebo responses," said study co-author Kim Bennell, a professor of physiotherapy at the University of Melbourne in Australia. "This can be attributed to factors such as the treatment setting, patient expectations and optimism, the physician's confidence in the treatment, and how the physician and patient interact."
In this study, almost 300 adults with chronic knee pain received either needle acupuncture, laser acupuncture (hitting acupuncture spots with a low-intensity laser beam), sham laser acupuncture, or no treatment at all (the "control" group). With the sham treatment, a machine was pre-programmed not to deliver the laser, so neither the patient nor the acupuncturist knew it was a fake treatment.
Participants received 20-minute sessions up to twice a week for three months. They filled out questionnaires about their knee pain at the start of the study, three months later and one year later.
After three months, participants receiving needle, laser and sham acupuncture all experienced similar reductions in knee pain while walking, compared to the control group. The pain improvement was gone at a year, however, and the short-term improvements were too small to make a significant difference in practice, the authors wrote.
And, neither needle acupuncture nor laser acupuncture provided significantly greater relief than sham laser acupuncture, according to the study.
The patients who received needle acupuncture also experienced slightly improved physical function in their knees after three months compared to the control group, but it did not last a year, and a similar improvement was also seen in the sham group.