By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
A new study published last week in the Arthritis Care and Research journal found that among 455 patients with painful knee arthritis, acupuncture delivered no more relief than a sham treatment.
The New York Times is reporting that the study, conducted at the prestigious MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, found that among the patients tested, there was no difference in pain relief between those who received acupuncture and those who received a phony version.
Acupuncture involves inserting needles at specific points in the body believed to be “energy centers” by traditional Chinese medicine practitioners. However, because the type of “energy” that is allegedly manipulated in the process is scientifically unsubstantiated, scientists believe the principles of neuroscience and the release of pain-suppressing neurotransmitters may be behind the purported efficacy of acupuncture.
Critics say the MD Anderson study used a poorly designed sham in their research, but lead author, Dr. Maria E. Suarez-Almazor, says their sham treatment was developed with the help of trained acupuncturists.
“We really worked with acupuncturists who are trained in the Chinese traditional style and asked them to come up with a sham that could be credible,” Dr. Suarez-Almazor said. “We didn’t plan a study trying to show that acupuncture didn’t work. The results came out with no difference between the groups.”
She went on to clarify that in any drug study, an equal response in the treatment and placebo groups proves the drug does not work.
Other recent studies also seem to prove the presence of the “placebo” effect in acupuncture treatment. The Times cites a 2007 study of back-pain sufferers in Germany where half of the patients who participated in both sham and real acupuncture groups had less pain after a treatment compared to those who received physical therapy or other traditional back pain. Researchers also found that patients who received real acupuncture used only half as much pain medication as those who received a sham treatment.
This prompted researchers to speculate that the insertion of a needle in or around an area of pain produces a kind of “super placebo” effect that in turn touches off a series of reactions in the way people experience pain.
Other studies, such as one financed by the National Institutes of Health in 2004 found that acupuncture significantly reduced pain in patients suffering with arthritic knees compared to those who received either a sham treatment or routine care. However, this study was called into question because recipients of the sham treatment may have discovered that they were getting a phony version of acupuncture, which would automatically negate the findings.
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