Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 16, 2026
Clinical Effects of Ultrasound-Guided Acupotomy in Knee Osteoarthritis Treatment
Published on: April 26, 2024
Acupuncture for knee osteoarthritis--a randomised trial using a novel sham
Eric Manheimer1, Byungmook Lim, Lixing Lao
1University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21207, USA. bberman@umm.edu
Background:
Evidence on the efficacy of acupuncture for reducing the pain and dysfunction of osteoarthritis is equivocal.
Objective:
To determine whether acupuncture provides greater pain relief and improved function compared with sham acupuncture or education in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee.
Design:
Randomised, controlled trial.
Setting:
Two outpatient clinics (an integrative medicine facility and a rheumatology facility) located in academic teaching hospitals and one clinical trials facility.
Patients:
570 patients with osteoarthritis of the knee (mean age [+/-SD], 65.5 +/- 8.4 years).
Intervention:
23 true acupuncture sessions over 26 weeks. Controls received 6 two-hour sessions over 12 weeks or 23 sham acupuncture sessions over 26 weeks.
Measurements:
Primary outcomes were changes in the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) pain and function scores at 8 and 26 weeks. Secondary outcomes were patient global assessment, 6-minute walk distance, and physical health scores of the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36).
Results:
Participants in the true acupuncture group experienced greater improvement in WOMAC function scores than the sham acupuncture group at 8 weeks (mean difference, -2.9 [95% CI, -5.0 to -0.8]; P=0.01) but not in WOMAC pain score (mean difference, -0.5 [CI, -1.2 to 0.2]; P=0.18) or the patient global assessment (mean difference, 0.16 [CI, -0.02 to 0.34]; P> 0.2). At 26 weeks, the true acupuncture group experienced significantly greater improvement than the sham group in the WOMAC function score (mean difference, -2.5 [CI, -4.7 to -0.4]; P=0.01), WOMAC pain score (mean difference, -0.87 [CI, -1.58 to -0.16]; P=0.003), and patient global assessment (mean difference, 0.26 [CI, 0.07 to 0.45]; P=0.02).
Limitations:
At 26 weeks, 43% of the participants in the education group and 25% in each of the true and sham acupuncture groups were not available for analysis.
Conclusions:
Acupuncture seems to provide improvement in function and pain relief as an adjunctive therapy for osteoarthritis of the knee when compared with credible sham acupuncture and education control groups.
