Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (23)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by David, J.
Right arrow Articles by Doré, C. J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by David, J.
Right arrow Articles by Doré, C. J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Rheumatology 1999; 38: 864-869
© 1999 British Society for Rheumatology

The effect of acupuncture on patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a randomized, placebo-controlled cross-over study

J. David, S. Townsend, R. Sathanathan, S. Kriss and C. J. Doré1

Royal Berkshire & Battle Hospitals NHS Trust, Reading and
1 Imperial College School of Medicine, London, UK

Correspondence to: J. David, Rheumatology Department, Battle Hospital, Oxford Road, Reading RG3 1AG, UK.

Objective. Acupuncture is commonly used by patients with chronic painful musculoskeletal disorders. There are, however, few well-designed studies of its efficacy. This paper describes a randomized placebo-controlled cross-over design to evaluate acupuncture as a useful treatment adjunct in the management of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods. Sixty-four patients were centrally randomized from a hospital-based rheumatology out-patient clinic. Fifty-six patients were suitable for study, all were on second-line therapy and aged 18–75 yr. There had been no change in therapy for the preceding 3 months. Patients who had previous acupuncture, anticoagulation, fear of needles or infection were excluded. Single-point (Liver 3) acupuncture or placebo was given with an intervening 6 week wash-out period. The acupuncturist, patient and statistician were blinded as far as possible. The outcome measures included the inflammatory markers (erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein), visual analogue scale of pain, global patient assessment, 28 swollen and tender joint count, and a general health questionnaire.

Results. The results demonstrated no significant effect of treatment or period and no significant interaction between treatment and period for any outcome variable. No adverse effects were reported.

Conclusion. Acupuncture of this type cannot be considered as a useful adjunct to therapy in patients with RA. Possible reasons why this is the case are discussed.

KEY WORDS: Acupuncture, Rheumatoid arthritis, Treatment.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Rheumatology (Oxford)Home page
M. S. Lee, B.-C. Shin, and E. Ernst
Acupuncture for rheumatoid arthritis: a systematic review
Rheumatology, December 1, 2008; 47(12): 1747 - 1753.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Qual Saf Health CareHome page
A Vickers, P Wilson, and J Kleijnen
Acupuncture
Qual. Saf. Health Care, March 1, 2002; 11(1): 92 - 97.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Rheumatology (Oxford)Home page
E. Tukmachi and J. David
Acupuncture and rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatology, October 1, 2000; 39(10): 1153 - 1154.
[Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.