Knee osteoarthritis pain: is acupuncture really an effective arthritis treatment? Often, insurance doesn’t cover complementary and alternative therapy, and you’re left wondering if you should dole out the extra cash for a remedy that might not work.

Luckily, a recent study provides some answers. The randomized, controlled, single blind trial (the patients weren’t aware which group they were in, but the clinicians knew) looked at the effectiveness of acupuncture, in conjunction with the common drug diclofenac, as a treatment for knee osteoarthritis.

Evaluations were made concerning knee pain relief, stiffness, physical function during the course of the treatment, how drug consumption varied during treatment, and quality of life issues. The study lasted two years and involved 97 people, all of whom sought osteoarthritis knee treatment at a pain management unit in a public primary care center located in southern Spain.

Patients were divided into two random groups, the first receiving acupuncture plus diclofenac, the second getting placebo acupuncture and the same drug. Diclofenac is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that works to reduce inflammation and as an analgesic to control pain. Eighty-eight of the participants completed the study.

Results were decisive. Measured according to the pain, stiffness and physical function subscales of the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities (WOMAC) osteoarthritis index, there was a mean difference of 23.9 percent in favor of the group that had true acupuncture.

The difference was even larger when clinicians examined functional activity. Using a pain visual analogue scale, recipients of actual acupuncture enjoyed a pain reduction of 26.6 for their osteoarthritis of the knee.

Overall, the results indicated that acupuncture treatment “produces significant changes in physical capability and psychological functioning.” The only caveat was a small amount of bruising reported by three of the patients after their acupuncture treatment.

Jorge Vas, chief medical officer, et al."Acupuncture as a complementary therapy to the pharmacological treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee: randomised controlled trial." British Medical Journal 2004 November 20; 329(7476): 1216.