Placebo effect, not acupuncture itself, helpful for OA

Moral of the story: Acupuncture does not help decrease pain from knee osteoarthritis.  It is the belief that it will help (placebo effect) that creates the relief.  Sham acupuncture and acupuncture had equivalent treatment effects.

Source: AMA Morning Rounds 8/19/10

Traditional Chinese acupuncture no more effective than sham acupuncture in relieving pain in patients with OA of the knee.

The Time (8/17, Blue) "Wellness" blog reported that, according to a study published Aug. 17 in the journal Arthritis Care & Research, "acupuncture probably only works because patients believe that it will -- and it's the belief, not the procedure, that makes the difference." For the study, researchers randomized "455 patients with osteoarthritis of the knee...either to receive traditional Chinese acupuncture or to receive a sham treatment -- a kind of mock acupuncture with needles inserted away from traditional acupuncture meridians, and with shallow needles designed to give very little of the stimulation that acupuncture provides."

        The study authors found that "traditional Chinese acupuncture was no more effective than sham acupuncture in relieving pain in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee," MedPage Today (8/17, Smith) reported. However, "both procedures were better at pain relief than no therapy, according to Maria Suarez-Almazor, MD, PhD, of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and colleagues." Interestingly, "treatment style -- neutral or positive -- also affected outcomes, with patients reporting better results if the acupuncturist was highly positive, regardless of whether what was actually delivered was traditional or sham acupuncture," the investigators found.