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.)