Nigel Hawkes, "Acupuncture 'cuts arthritis pain'", Sunday Times,
October 30, 2006,
Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...427886,00.html
ACUPUNCTURE can ease the pain and disability caused by arthritis, a
study in Germany has indicated.
Previous trials have shown that acupuncture can relieve pain, but many
have been small and it is difficult to decide whether the benefits
identified are simply the result of the placebo effect.
The German study, published in Arthritis & Rheumatism, compared the
experience of 357 patients given immediate acupuncture with a further
355 whose treatment started three months later.
Benefits were measured on the WOMAC scale, a widely used scale of
disease severity which measures pain, stiffness, and how well the joint
works. At the start of treatment the patients' scores on the scale
were about 50.
After 15 sessions in the first three months, the patients treated with
acupuncture had WOMAC scores of about 30, while the control group still
waiting for treatment remained about 50.
After adjusting for other factors, the improvement in the score was 36
per cent. After six months the control group, which began its treatment
three months later, showed the same level of improvement. In all cases
normal care continued alongside the acupuncture treatments.
The researchers, led by Claudia Witte, of the Charité University of
Medicine in Berlin, concluded that adding acupuncture to the normal
treatment regimes - which generally consists of anti-inflammatory
drugs - produced "a clinically relevant and persistent benefit".
However, the results may not satisfy sceptics. The study was not a
double-blind, and the experience of the acupuncturists did not have any
influence on the outcome - inexperienced acupuncturists were just as
effective as experienced ones. In an editorial in the journal, Tao Liu
and Chen Liu, who teach Chinese medicine at Jilin University, in China,
said that nothing was more important than the experience of the
acupuncturist.
Despite this, the scientists said that the study was further evidence
of the usefulness of acupuncture and warranted its extensive use in
treating pain, although no one can yet explain how it works.
Partly as a result of the 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.
Traditionally, German doctors have been far more enthusiastic about
alternative treatments than their British counterparts. However,
acupuncture is becoming increasingly popular in Britain and many
physiotherapy departments in hospitals now offer the services of an
acupuncturist.
