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 Patients are increasingly turning to acupuncture for the
pain of arthritis in the knee, hip and back. Some of the
newer anti-inflammatories have been shown to have
dangerous side effects, and surgery is not always possible
nor is it always desirable.
Evidence:
The largest controlled acupuncture study ever undertaken
was completed in 2004 looking at the effects of
acupuncture on osteoarthritis of the knee. It showed that
acupuncture is more effective than placebo acupuncture
(sham acupuncture) or conventional conservative
management. At 26 weeks the acupuncture patients had much
improved pain scores and quality of life scores (1).
In another study from Germany, they found that acupuncture
helped not only pain and function scores, but also quality
of life scores in patients who received acupuncture for
chronic osteoarthritis of the hip and knee over a 12 week
period. The results were sustained for 6 months (2).
Furthermore, a quality of life and cost-effectiveness
study was performed on 479 patients with osteoarthritis of
the hip and knee and they found that acupuncture was a
cost effective modality to improve pain, function and
quality of life scores (3).
Science:
There is evidence for needling causing active cytoskeletal
remodeling in connective tissue fibroblasts (4), so the
results from these studies can be understood from a
physiological point of view as actually improving the
intrinsic tissue architecture of the knee and hip. Sham
acupuncture also improved the pain, function and quality
of life scores of the patients in the first study cited,
but those results were not sustained for as long as the
real acupuncture. This can be explained by the understood
global mechanisms acupuncture, including endomorphin-1,
beta endorphin, encephalin, and serotonin levels increase
in plasma and brain tissue through acupuncture
application. It has been observed that the increases of
endomorphin-1, beta endorphin, encephalin, serotonin, and
dopamine cause analgesia, sedation, and recovery in motor
functions. They also have immunomodulator effects on the
immune system and lipolithic effects on metabolism (5).
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1. Ann Intern Med. 2004 Dec 21;141(12):901-10.
2. Arthritis Rheum. 2006 Nov;54(11):3375-7.
3. Eur J Health Econ.; 2007 Jul 19;
4. J Altern Complement Med. 2007 Apr;13(3):355-60
5. Int J Neurosci. 2006 Feb;116(2):115-25.
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