A three-armed RCT carried out by Greek investigators has shown that a combination of acupuncture plus non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) is significantly more effective for chronic pain due to knee osteoarthritis (OA) than either sham acupuncture plus NSAIDs or NSAIDs alone. A total of 120 patients with knee OA were randomly allocated to three groups: Group I was treated with acupuncture plus etoricoxib, Group II with sham acupuncture plus etoricoxib and Group III with etoricoxib only. Group I exhibited statistically significant improvements in all but one primary and secondary outcome measures, compared with the other treatment groups, at four, eight and twelve weeks. These included osteoarthritis index scores, visual analogue pain scores and changes in pain at trigger points, measured by algometer. (Acupuncture as an adjunctive therapy to pharmacological treatment in patients with chronic pain due to osteoarthritis of the knee: a 3-armed, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Pain. 2012 Aug;153(8):1720-6).
Categories: Arthritis, Knee
