RESEARCH - Acupuncture improves osteoarthritis, trial shows

December 21, 2004

Acupuncture improves osteoarthritis, trial shows

Last Updated: 2004-12-20 17:00:14 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Karla Gale

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Acupuncture added to conventional therapy

for osteoarthritis of the knee improves function and reduces pain,

according to a clinical trial conducted at the University of land

School of Medicine in Baltimore.

" We now have a result that suggests, in the largest, longest and most

rigorously conducted study of acupuncture ever, that we have a new

(add-on) therapy for millions of patients with degenerative arthritis, "

Dr. E. Straus, director of the National Center for Complementary

and Alternative Medicine, said at a press conference.

The study, led by Dr. M. Berman and reported in the Archives of

Internal Medicine, involved 570 patients with moderate to severe

osteoarthritis, all of whom continued with their prescription

treatments.

They were also assigned to 23 sessions of traditional Chinese

acupuncture or sham non-piercing acupuncture over the course of 26

weeks, or to a control group that received 6 two-hour education sessions

over 12 weeks.

After eight weeks, participants in the true acupuncture group had a

10.77-point improvement in a standard osteoarthritis function score,

significantly greater than those in sham acupuncture group (7.84-point

improvement) or the education-only group (5.30 points).

After 26 weeks, both pain and function scores were significantly more

improved in the true acupuncture group than in the sham group.

At the press conference, researcher Dr. Marc C. Hochberg said that " the

maximum improvement in the sham group was about 30 percent in terms of

calculated pain score and also the calculated score on functional

impairment. " In the true acupuncture group, the improvement was " between

40 percent and 45 percent in both pain and function scores. "

Moreover, added Dr. Berman -- particularly in light of recent news about

arthritis drugs -- " there were very few adverse events reported, none on

which was thought to be treatment related. "

SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, December 21, 2004.

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