6594/37 Aim22(1)

Introduction Osteoarthritis (OA) is the commonest joint disease, with many patients having persistent disability due to pain and stiffness. Analgesic and anti-inflammatory therapy is limited by side effects and not all patients are adequately controlled with lifestyle changes. Reports of the therapeutic and analgesic effects of acupuncture in OA have stimulated interest in acupuncture as complementary or even as an alternative to Western orthodox medicine. Many patients suffering from OA of the knee, who have not been helped by one or more Western therapy regimes, find relief from alternative medical approaches, including acupuncture. A survey in 1996 showed that more than 50% of all cases treated by acupuncturists in the UK had OA. It has been suggested that acupuncture, with its good safety record, can be used to manage OA in patients for whom conventional Western treatments are inadequate or contraindicated. Controlled trials on the effectiveness of acupuncture treatment have yielded inconsistent results, which may be due to a variety of technical reasons. A systematic review by Ezzo et al concluded that there is limited evidence that acupuncture is more effective than no treatment for chronic pain and inconclusive evidence that Emad Tukmachi acupuncturist