A randomised, controlled trial undertaken by researchers in Greece, has shown that acupuncture combined with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), is significantly more effective for chronic, osteoarthritic knee pain, than either sham acupuncture plus NSAIDs, or NSAIDs alone.
A total of 120 patients were randomly allocated to the three groups, and assessed at four, eight and twelve weeks. The acupuncture plus NSAID group, exhibited statistically significant improvements in all but one primary and secondary outcome measure, compared with the other two treatment groups.
(Acupuncture as an Adjunctive Therapy to Pharmacological Treatment in Patients with Chronic Pain due to Osteoarthritis of the Knee: A 3-Armed, Randomised, Placebo-Controlled Trial. Pain Journal, Elsevier, August 2012.)