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eCAM Advance Access published online on January 5, 2009
eCAM, doi:10.1093/ecam/nen080
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© 2008 The Author(s).
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Delayed Effect of Acupuncture Treatment in OA of the Knee: A Blinded, Randomized, Controlled Trial

Ehud Miller1, Yair Maimon1, Yishai Rosenblatt2, Anat Mendler1, Avi Hasner3, Adi Barad1, Hagay Amir2, Shmuel Dekel2 and Shahar Lev-Ari1

1Unit of Complementary Medicine, 2Department of Orthopaedic Surgery ‘B’ and 3Unit of Quality Control, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

To assess the efficacy in providing improved function and pain relief by administering 8 weeks of acupuncture as adjunctive therapy to standard care in elderly patients with OA of the knee. This randomized, controlled, blinded trial was conducted on 55 patients with OA of the knee. Forty-one patients completed the study (26 females, 15 males, mean age ± SD 71.7 ± 8.6 years). Patients were randomly divided into an intervention group that received biweekly acupuncture treatment (n = 28) and a control group that received sham acupuncture (n = 27), both in addition to standard therapy, e.g. NSAIDS, cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors, acetaminophen, intra-articular hyaluronic acid and steroid injections. Primary outcomes measures were changes in the Knee Society Score (KSS) knee score and in KSS function and pain ratings at therapy onset, at 8 weeks (closure of study) and at 12 weeks (1 month after last treatment). Secondary outcomes were patient satisfaction and validity of sham acupuncture. There was significant improvement in all three scores in both groups after 8 and 12 weeks compared with baseline (P<0.05). Significant differences between the intervention and control groups in the KSS knee score (P = 0.036) was apparent only after 12 weeks. Patient satisfaction was higher in the intervention group. Adjunctive acupuncture treatment seems to provide added improvement to standard care in elderly patients with OA of the knee. Future research should determine the optimal duration of acupuncture treatment in the context of OA.

Keywords: acupuncture – delayed effect – elderly – knee – osteoarthritis

For reprints and all correspondence: Shahar Lev-Ari, Unit of Complementary Medicine, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, 6 Weizmann St., Tel Aviv 64239, Israel. Tel: +972-3-6974386; Fax: +972-3-6974789; E-mail: compmed{at}tasmc.health.gov.il

Received October 10, 2007; accepted November 14, 2008


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