Several major studies of the effect of acupuncture on osteoarthritis of the knee have found it can both relieve pain and improve movement.
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a group of diseases and mechanical abnormalities involving degradation of joints. Symptoms of OA may include joint pain, tenderness, stiffness, creaking, locking of joints, and sometimes local inflammation.
A landmark study was funded by the National Centre for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), both components of the US National Institutes of Health. The study concludes that acupuncture is an effective complement to standard care.
Researcher Dr Stephen Strauss, director of the US National Centre for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, said: “For the first time, a clinical trial with sufficient rigour, size, and duration has shown that acupuncture reduces the pain and functional impairment of osteoarthritis of the knee.”
In a more recent large German trial of acupuncture for arthritic knee pain, involving more than 3,000 patients, it was concluded that the evidence showed that there was significant improvement at both three and six months in osteoarthritis severity and quality of life.
Partly as a result of this trial, the German Ministry of Health is considering a recommendation from a federal committee of doctors and health insurers that acupuncture should be covered by medical insurance.
Local Registered Osteopath, Paul Clusker, supports these findings. He routinely uses acupuncture to treat osteoarthritis of the knee in his Walsall and Sutton Coldfield clinics.
A recent patient of Paul’s, Joan M, explains that since October last year she has had a very painful left knee which has been diagnosed as osteoarthritis “before I came to see Paul my knee was aching and burning all the time causing me to limp and really struggle with the stairs. I came to see Paul at the beginning of December last year and after just seven sessions of acupuncture I had virtually no pain at all. I now see Paul once a month and can honestly say I have no knee pain at all and feel so much better in myself as a result.”
Another of Paul's patients, Annie O'D, aged 71 yrs, had knee pain for more than eight weeks after a minor knock to her right knee. When her GP prescribed anti inflammatory drugs and they didn't prove helpful Annie turned to acupuncture. Annie says "After just five treatments all my knee pain had gone". Now that Annie has been pain free for a month Paul has given Annie specific exercises to strengthen and stabilise her knee. Annie says “I'm delighted with the complete pain relief I've experienced with the acupuncture and am now ready to start on the exercises to strengthen my knee to protect it in the future.”
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