Efficacy of intensive acupuncture versus sham acupuncture in knee osteoarthritis: A randomized controlled trial
RCT (n=480) found electro‐acupuncture was superior to sham acupuncture for improvement in pain and function at week 8 (60.3% vs 47.3%, p=0.0234). The improvement for manual vs sham acupuncture was not statistically significant at week 8, but was by week 26.
Source:
Arthritis & Rheumatology
SPS commentary:
A related editorial notes that acupuncture is already widely practised and readily available in many countries and healthcare systems, but in some systems, reimbursement is limited, which may be a barrier to further implementation and heterogeneity of protocols used.It calls for further research, in particular, dose response relationships, effects of blinding the acupuncturist, feasibility of 3 times weekly regimens and clarifying the mechanism of effect, particularly given the persistence of benefit. It adds that there is some suggestion the benefit is partly mediated by changes in major inflammatory factors (TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-13) which may in part explain the persistence of effect.