Pain relieving effects of acupuncture are limited

Researchers at the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Copenhagen analysed evidence from thirteen acupuncture pain trials involving over 3,000 patients. The trials compared three arms of treatment (real acupuncture, placebo or ‘pretend’ acupuncture or no acupuncture) for a broad range of common conditions such as knee osteoarthritis, migraine, low back pain and post-operative pain. They found a small analgesic effect of real acupuncture compared to placebo acupuncture. This corresponded to a reduction in pain levels of about 4mm on a 100mm pain scoring scale. A 10mm reduction on this scale is classed as ‘minimal’ or ‘little change’ so the apparent analgesic effect of acupuncture seems to be below a clinically relevant pain improvement, say the authors. Comment: I wonder how often we have to repeat research on complementary medicines before we stop wasting research dollars?