A new study found that acupuncture does not improve the chronic knee pain experienced by patients who are 50 years old and above.
Chronic knee pain is a long-term pain, swelling, or sensitivity in one or both knees. The symptoms may become worse due to injury, strain, overuse, infection, bad posture, and not stretching the muscles properly. People who are overweight or obese are at higher risk of the condition. Common types of treatments include physical therapy, medication, surgery, and injections, but some people resort to alternative treatment such as acupuncture.
Researchers from the University of Melbourne, Australia conducted a study to test if acupuncture effectively improve the condition of middle-aged patients with chronic knee pain. The study involved 282 patients who underwent different types of treatments such as needle, laser, and placebo laser acupuncture for 12 weeks with each session lasting for 20 minutes.
The findings showed that there is no significant difference between those who underwent acupuncture and sham acupuncture. The researchers noted moderate improvement on the physical function of the knees of the participants, but not good enough to last for a year.
"In patients older than 50 years with moderate or severe chronic knee pain, neither laser nor needle acupuncture conferred benefit over sham for pain or function. Our findings do not support acupuncture for these patients," said study author Rana S. Hinman in a press release.
Further details of the study were published in the Oct. 1 issue of the Journal of Medical Association.
However, other experts suggest that the study would have produced more accurate results if involved more participants.
"About three million Americans try acupuncture per year, and chronic pain is the most common indication," said Andrew Vickers, research methodologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, in an email to Reuters Health. Vickers is not part of the study.
Jean-Paul Thuot, an acupuncturist and owner of Stillpoint Community Acupuncture in Victoria, British Columbia in Canada, also explained that the 12-week period is not enough to improve chronic knee pain.
"Once or twice a week for eight to 12 weeks would, in my experience, hardly scratch the surface of such a condition, so I am not surprised that there was little change," Thuot said to Healthday News.
