Can Acupuncture Treat Knee Pain?
By Ge Nan, PhD and Yong Ming Li, MD,
PhD
Recently, an article in the 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.
We, the practitioners of acupuncture
and more broadly, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), believe this conclusion
is premature. There have been several thousand years of acupuncture practice in
history. Acupuncturists' observation, patients' feedback, many previous
clinical trials, as well as basic researche, 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 the lack of an appropriate sham needle control in the trial
and poorly designed protocol and insufficient power of test, as well as
exaggerated data interpretation.
To read more, click here.
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