Acupuncture and Knee Pain
Osteoarthritis most commonly affects the knees. Anti-inflammatory drugs used in the treatment of the disease have many known side effects. In addition, patients using these drugs do not get the desired improvement and surgery is often recommended.
Patients with chronic pain are increasingly turning to acupuncture, as they turn to non-drug treatments to relieve pain. A randomized and controlled trial was conducted to show whether acupuncture is effective in osteoarthritic knee pain.
In the study, which was conducted with 294 patients selected from 50 to 75 years of age, the participants were divided into 3 groups. Each group was controlled both before and after treatment and at 8, 26, and 52 weeks after treatment. Real acupuncture was applied to the first of these 3 groups of patients. While the fake acupuncture called minimal acupuncture was applied to the 2nd group, the 3rd group was treated with 12 sessions from the 9th week, while no action was taken for the first 8 weeks.
Acupuncture treatment was applied. Acupuncture treatment consisting of 12 sessions continued for 8 weeks was applied to the first 2 groups.
When these patient groups were compared, the pain scores of the group that received acupuncture treatment after the treatment and at the following 8th week were statistically significantly lower than the other two groups. When the 1st and 8th weeks are compared, the amount of medication taken by the patients and the number of pain medication taken per week
A significant decrease was observed in the group compared to the others. In the 3rd group, which was not treated at the beginning, after the 9th week of treatment, the same improvements were observed as in the first group. After the 26th week, it was observed that the effects of the treatment decreased and there was no difference between the groups.
As a result: It was observed that acupuncture treatment caused a decrease in knee pain due to calcification. Considering the very serious side effects of the drugs used in the treatment of this disease and the inability to achieve the desired result in the treatment, acupuncture can be used as a safe treatment method for knee pain with very low side effects.
To access the article: