Acupuncture and Knee Osteoarthritis
Authors: Michal R. Pijak
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2007)

Letters16 January 2007Acupuncture and Knee OsteoarthritisMichal R. Pijak, MDMichal R. Pijak, MDFrom University Hospital, Bratislava, Slovakia.Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-146-2-200701160-00012 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail TO THE EDITOR: Scharf and colleagues (1) reported that the addition of traditional Chinese acupuncture (TCA) was superior to conservative therapy but not to sham acupuncture for osteoarthritis of the knee. They suggest that “because complete blinding was impossible, this study does not allow us to determine whether the observed effectiveness of TCA and sham acupuncture was due to placebo effects, intensity of provider contact, or a physiologic effect of needling.” However, 2 related points need to be emphasized.First, either placebo effects or “time effects” might have led to an overestimation of the differences between blinded and unblinded groups ...References1. Scharf HP, Mansmann U, Streitberger K, Witte S, Krämer J, Maier C, et al. Acupuncture and knee osteoarthritis: a three-armed randomized trial. Ann Intern Med. 2006;145:12-20. [PMID: 16818924] LinkGoogle Scholar2. Hróbjartsson A, Gøtzsche PC. Is the placebo powerless? An analysis of clinical trials comparing placebo with no treatment. N Engl J Med. 2001;344:1594-602. [PMID: 11372012] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar3. Pollo A, Amanzio M, Arslanian A, Casadio C, Maggi G, Benedetti F. Response expectancies in placebo analgesia and their clinical relevance. Pain. 2001;93:77-84. [PMID: 11406341] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar4. Kienle GS, Kiene H. The powerful placebo effect: fact or fiction? J Clin Epidemiol. 1997;50:1311-8. [PMID: 9449934] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar5. Vickers AJ. Statistical reanalysis of four recent randomized trials of acupuncture for pain using analysis of covariance. Clin J Pain. 2004;20:319-23. [PMID: 15322438] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar6. Berman BM, Lao L, Langenberg P, Lee WL, Gilpin AM, Hochberg MC. Effectiveness of acupuncture as adjunctive therapy in osteoarthritis of the knee: a randomized, controlled trial. Ann Intern Med. 2004;141:901-10. [PMID: 15611487] LinkGoogle Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: From University Hospital, Bratislava, Slovakia.Disclosures: None disclosed. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoEffectiveness of Acupuncture as Adjunctive Therapy in Osteoarthritis of the Knee Brian M. Berman , Lixing Lao , Patricia Langenberg , Wen Lin Lee , Adele M.K. Gilpin , and Marc C. Hochberg Acupuncture and Knee Osteoarthritis Hanns-Peter Scharf , Ulrich Mansmann , Konrad Streitberger , Steffen Witte , Jürgen Krämer , Christoph Maier , Hans-Joachim Trampisch , and Norbert Victor Acupuncture and Knee Osteoarthritis Shin-ichi Muramatsu Acupuncture and Knee Osteoarthritis Dieter Wettig Acupuncture and Knee Osteoarthritis Norbert Victor , Steffen Witte , and Konrad Streitberger Metrics Cited ByCurrent Status of Kampo Medicine in Community Health CareThe Effect of Brief Electrical and Manual Acupuncture Stimulation on Mechanical Experimental Pain 16 January 2007Volume 146, Issue 2Page: 147KeywordsAcupunctureConflicts of interestKneesMotivationOsteoarthritis ePublished: 16 January 2007 Issue Published: 16 January 2007 CopyrightCopyright © 2007 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF DownloadLoading ...