Laser acupuncture may reduce osteoarthritis knee pain

Knee pain associated with osteoarthritis may be reduced by laser acupuncture in the short-term, highlights new research in Evidence Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Laser acupuncture is when traditional acupuncture points are stimulated with low-energy lasers. This means the application is not time consuming, is free of pain and there is no risk of infection.

A research group looked at the evidence and found seven trials that compared active laser acupuncture with placebo in nearly 400 people with knee osteoarthritis.

The short-term outcomes showed that laser acupuncture offered better pain relief than placebo when it was carried out properly. But it had no impact on stiffness or quality of life and its pain-relieving effects were not maintained in the long-term.

“Our findings indicate that laser acupuncture can effectively reduce knee pain for patients with knee osteoarthritis at short term when appropriate technical features are applied,” the researchers explain. “The effect likely fades away during the subsequent follow-up period.”

Click here to read the original research. 

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