Acupuncture Ineffective for Knee Pain

Researchers provided acupuncture treatments for 282 people aged 50+ with chronic knee pain. They randomly assigned patients to either needle, laser, sham laser acupuncture or no treatment at all. After 12 weeks of treatment, needle and sham acupuncture had the same moderate pain improvements compared to no treatment. Hence, believing you’d had the treatment was…

Acupuncturist’s Attitude Matters Most

Many people believe that Traditional Chinese acupuncture can relieve arthritic knee pain. Data from a clinical trial of 455 patients and 72 controls showed that the attitude of the acupuncturist greatly influenced the outcomes. When the acupuncturist (genuine or pretend) said to the patient, "I've had a lot of success with treating knee pain," the…