Can Acupuncture Treat Knee Pain?

Can Acupuncture Treat Knee Pain?

Ge Nan, PhD, Yong Ming Li, MD, PhD
Recently an article in Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that "neither laser nor needle acupuncture conferred benefit over sham for pain or function" among older chronic knee pain patients. (JAMA, 2014;312:1313)
We, the practitioners of acupuncture and more broadly Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), believe this conclusion is premature. There has been several thousand years of acupuncture practice in history. Acupuncturists' observation, patients' feedback, many previous clinical trials, as well as basic researches, all suggest that acupuncture could effectively treat knee pain.
There are several flaws in the design of this article, which we will itemize and address below. In general, the key reasons are 1) the lack of an appropriate sham needle control in the trial, 2) poorly designed protocol and insufficient power of test, and 3) exaggerated data interpretation.

1. This study demonstrates better effectiveness of needle acupuncture over no treatment control.

   This is consistent with observations in previous clinical trials and real clinical practice. Logically, this does not argue against needle acupuncture as a potential therapy for treating chronic knee pain.

2. The primary goal of this trial is to determine the efficacy of laser treatment, not needle acupuncture, in treating chronic knee pain, as clearly evidenced by authors own trial protocols and publications.

   A negative result is concluded from the data, that is, laser treatment was shown not to be better than sham laser treatment or needle acupuncture. 

   To Continue to read, click here.