Under this heading, you will find an introduction to acupuncture for joint problems, including osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, general stiffness, and rheumatic aches and pains.

Beginning with osteoarthritis, you might already have had a diagnosis from your GP, or even an X-ray of the affected joint. In general, I find osteoarthritis is quite responsive to acupuncture, and because it is a degenerative condition, the sooner you start treatment, the better the results tend to be: acupuncture is unable to reverse significant joint damage which has already occurred. My realistic objectives are to reduce the pain, reduce your intake of painkillers and anti-inflammatories, and to slow further deterioration of the joint. Knees, hips and fingers present for treatment most commonly in my practice, but other joints crop up aswell.

Moving to rheumatoid arthritis, patients I see are usually under the regular care of either their rheumatologist or GP, and acupuncture can work effectively alongside any medication which has been prescribed. Because a systemic disease process is at work here, there is a greater need to treat the underlying imbalances which Chinese medicine is capable of identifying, aswell as attending more locally to the most painful joints.

Finally, we have general stiffness problems and those rheumatic aches and pains which might have defied clear diagnosis. Sometimes, the symptoms are focal at the site of an old injury. Other times, they are more widespread, and so we bear in mind possiblities such as the pains being menopausal, induced as side-effects of medication, or arising from other diseases. I need to fully examine the surrounding area, find out all about your lifestyle, and I will ask you about the influence of the weather on your joints; if it is a factor, I find patients are most likely to report damp, cold or sudden weather changes affect them.

Diet and lifestyle can be crucial when helping joint problems, and I will often give you some self-help measures to implement. These will usually be simple but effective.

Below you can read the results of some of the research which has been undertaken into acupuncture for joint problems.

Researchers have found that walking gait patterns in people with osteoarthritis of the knee, can be significantly improved by acupuncture, probably the researchers believe, due to pain relief.

Twenty patients with osteoarthritis in both knees, were randomly assigned to receive either one thirty minute electro-acupuncture session, or a sham treatment as a control. The average change in pain score in the true treatment group was twice that of the control group. Furthermore, the treatment group showed significant increases in walking speed and step length, aswell as several joint angle and movement measurements. No significant equivalents were observed in the sham group.

(Immediate Effects of Acupuncture on Gait Patterns in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis. Chin Med J (Engl) Jan 2010.)

Researchers have found that treatment of knee osteoarthritis with electro-acupuncture, produces not only improvements in patients’ perceived levels of pain, but also changes in biochemical markers associated with stress and pain.

Forty patients aged 40 years and over, were given either ten daily electro-acupuncture treatments, or just sham acupuncture over the same period. Following real electro-acupuncture and compared with the sham group, patients reported significant improvements in pain, stiffness and disability, but this was accompanied by a significant rise in plasma beta-endorphin, and a significant fall in plasma cortisol. The team conclude that acupuncture is associated with physiological changes beyond those of the placebo effect.

(Clinical and Endocrinological Changes after Electro-Acupuncture Treatment in Patients with Osteoarthritis of the Knee. Pain December 2009.)

American researchers have undertaken a review of ten randomised, controlled trials, involving a total of 1456 patients, and have concluded that acupuncture is an effective treatment for the pain and physical dysfunction caused by osteoarthritis of the knee.

(Family Community Health Journal 2008 July-Sept)

A blind, randomised, controlled trial has studied the effects of real compared to sham acupuncture, for osteoarthritis of the knee. Sixty-eight patients with symptoms supported by X-ray evidence of osteoarthritis, were randomly allocated to receive either acupuncture, or non-penetrating sham acupuncture (in which the patients were lead to believe they had received real acupuncture).

The acupuncture group experienced a significantly greater improvement in the knee, including a significant improvement in pain, which was not seen in the sham group.

(A Blinded Randomised Trial of Acupuncture compared with a Non-Penetrating Sham for the Symptoms of Osteoarthritis of the Knee. Acupuncture in Medicine 2008 June)