Acupuncture in medicine : journal of the British Medical Acupuncture Society
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In 1997, the first Pain Management Unit, which was set up as part of primary health care within the Andalusian Public Health System, offered acupuncture among other therapies. This observational study was conducted in preparation for a randomised controlled trial. ⋯ The degree of pain relief experienced by patients from acupuncture justifies a more rigorous study.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
The effect of acupuncture on the symptoms of knee osteoarthritis--an open randomised controlled study.
Using an open randomised controlled study, we examined the effectiveness of manual and electroacupuncture on symptom relief for patients with osteoarthritis of the knee. ⋯ We conclude that manual and electroacupuncture causes a significant improvement in the symptoms of osteoarthritis of the knee, either on its own or as an adjunct therapy, with no loss of benefit after one month.
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Although recent prospective studies came to the conclusion that the incidence of adverse events following acupuncture can be classified as minimal, many cases of acupuncture-related pneumothorax have been published over the years, among them some cases of tension pneumothorax. In this case, a slender woman received acupuncture from a fully trained medical acupuncturist including needling of the points LU1 in the subacromial region and BL13, which is a paravertebral point at the level of the spinous process of the third thoracic vertebra. ⋯ On x ray examination a tension pneumothorax was diagnosed. Even though pneumothorax is the most frequently reported serious complication related to acupuncture, it is not an inevitable complication of acupuncture, and in most cases involves negligence from inadequate consideration of basic anatomy.