Acupuncture as a symptomatic treatment of osteoarthritis. A systematic review
Item
Title
Acupuncture as a symptomatic treatment of osteoarthritis. A systematic review
Author(s)
Journal Publication
Date
1997
volume
26(6)
pages
444-447
Research Type
Systematic Review
Abstract
Acupuncture is a popular complementary treatment for osteoarthritis. In order to define its effectiveness, a systematic review of the literature was undertaken. Independent literature searches identified eleven studies of acupuncture for osteoarthritis. Their results are highly contradictory. Most trials suffer from methodological flaws. The most rigorous studies suggest that acupuncture is not superior to sham-needling in reducing pain of osteoarthritis: both alleviate symptoms to roughly the same degree. This could either mean sham-needling has similar specific effects as acupuncture or that both methods are associated with considerable non-specific effects. Future research should clarify which explanation applies
View on Pubmed
has health condition studied
Arthritis
plan
N/A
has study population number
0
has duration
N/A