Acupuncture could prove effective in reducing arthritis pain

• They were randomly assigned to one of three treatments - genuine acupuncture, "sham" acupuncture, or a self-help course that teaches patients to manage their own condition.
• Throughout the 26 week trial, participants continued to receive their normal standard medical care, including anti-inflammatory drugs and pain relievers.
• By the eighth week, genuine acupuncture patients showed a significant increase in function compared with both the sham treatment and self-help groups.
• Overall, pain was reduced by about 40% and function improved by almost 40% in the volunteers receiving acupuncture.
• The trial, led by Dr Brian Berman, from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, was funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and the National Institute of Arthritis and Muscoloskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS).
• NCCAM director Dr Stephen Straus said: "For the first time, a clinical trial with sufficient rigor, size, and duration has shown that acupuncture reduces the pain and functional impairment of osteoarthritis of the knee.
• NCCAM has been building a portfolio of basic and clinical research that is now revealing the power and promise of applying stringent research methods to ancient practices like acupuncture."
• Dr Berman said: "This trial, which builds upon our previous NCCAM-funded research, establishes that acupuncture is an effective complement to conventional arthritis treatment and can be successfully employed as part of a multidisciplinary approach to treating the symptoms of osteoarthritis."
• Sham acupuncture, which has been employed in a number of other trials, has been criticised for not providing a fool-proof control condition.
• It is claimed that even if needles are not placed in the correct treatment points they might trigger a response in the patient.
• Because of the difficulty of faking needle insertion, designing acupuncture trials is notoriously difficult.
• In the United States, about five million people a year receive acupuncture treatment.