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Acupuncture did not improve pain or function in patients with chronic knee pain
Neither laser nor needle acupuncture had a greater benefit over sham laser for pain or function among patients older than 50 years with moderate or severe chronic knee pain, according to study results.
Researchers randomly assigned 282 patients with chronic knee pain to receive no acupuncture (control group) or needle, laser or sham laser acupuncture for 12 weeks. Primary outcomes included average knee pain and physical function at 12 weeks, and secondary outcomes included other pain and function measures, quality of life, global change and 1-year follow-up.
Compared with sham at 12 weeks, study results showed no significant improvement in pain or function among patients who received needle or laser acupuncture, according to the researchers.
The researchers also found needle or laser acupuncture resulted in modest improvements in pain at 12 weeks compared with the control group, but not at 1 year.
Additionally, needle acupuncture resulted in modest improvement in function vs. controls at 12 weeks, but the improvement was not significantly different from sham and was not maintained at 1 year.
“In our study, benefits of acupuncture were exclusively attributed to incidental effects, given the lack of significant differences between active acupuncture and sham treatment,” the researchers wrote. “Continuous subjective measures, such as pain and self-reported physical function, as used in our study, are particularly subject to placebo responses.”
Disclosure: See the study for a full list of all authors’ relevant financial disclosures.