A multicentre, randomised controlled trial in Spain, has found that acupuncture in association with physiotherapy, is more beneficial for shoulder pain and function, than physiotherapy on its own. A total of 425 patients received fifteen sessions of physiotherapy over a three week period; additionally, some were randomised to receive either acupuncture, or mock TENS as a control.
Using a shoulder outcome scoring system, the acupuncture group improved by 16.6 points, compared with only 10.6 in the control group. Furthermore, 53% of the acupuncture patients had reduced their painkiller consumption, compared with only 30% in the control group.
(Single-Point Acupuncture; Physiotherapy for the Treatment of Painful Shoulder: a Multicentre Randomised Controlled Trial. Rheumatology, 1 June 2008.)
A very large German study looking at headache treatment has concluded that acupuncture in addition to routine medical care for patients with primary headache (headaches not caused by any other known medical condition), is associated with significant clinical improvements over routine care alone. Of 15 056 headache patients, 1613 were randomly allocated to receive acupuncture plus their usual medical care, 1569 received only their usual care, and 11 874 who did not wish to be randomised, were also given acupuncture plus usual care.