A recent year long study of 17,922 patient outcomes (a huge number) concluded that acupuncture is effective for relieving neck, back, arthritis, headache and shoulder pain.
Results were published in the prestigious Archives of Internal Medicine journal. The researchers conclude, “Acupuncture is effective for the treatment of chronic pain and is therefore a reasonable referral option.”
In another study, 3,835 patients were followed, were researchers determined that, “Acupuncture provided significantly better relief from knee osteoarthritis pain and a larger improvement in function than sham acupuncture, standard care treatment, or waiting for further treatment.” The study notes that acupuncture for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis is “better at relieving pain and restoring function” than both conventional biomedical care and sham acupuncture.
References:
Vickers AJ, Cronin AM, Maschino AC, et al. Acupuncture for Chronic Pain: Individual Patient Data Meta-analysis. Arch Intern Med. Published online September 10, 2012. doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2012.3654.
Saudi Med J. 2012 May;33(5):526-32. Needle acupuncture for osteoarthritis of the knee. A systematic review and updated meta-analysis. Cao L, Zhang XL, Gao YS, Jiang Y. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Shanghai Sixth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China.
