This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (4) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Tsang, R. C.-C. Articles by Yip, H.-T. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Tsang, R. C.-C. Articles by Yip, H.-T. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Effects of acupuncture and sham acupuncture in addition to physiotherapy in patients undergoing bilateral total knee arthroplasty — a randomized controlled trial

Physiotherapy Department, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong, tsangccr{at}ha.org.hk

Pui-Ling Tsang

Physiotherapy Department, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong

Chung-Yee Ko

Physiotherapy Department, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong

Ben Chi-Hung Kong

Physiotherapy Department, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong

Wing-Yee Lee

Physiotherapy Department, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong

Ho-Ting Yip

Physiotherapy Department, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong

Objective: To compare the acute effects of acupuncture with sham acupuncture on knee pain, range of motion and ambulation in patients with knee osteoarthritis undergoing bilateral total knee arthroplasty, when added to a standard postoperative physiotherapy programme.

Design: Prospective patient- and assessor-blinded randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Acute inpatient physiotherapy department.

Patients: Thirty patients (24 women and 6 men) undergoing bilateral total knee arthroplasty were included for final analysis in the study.

Interventions: Both groups received a standard postoperative physiotherapy programme. Each patient was also given either 10 sessions of acupuncture or sham acupuncture within two weeks.

Main outcome measures: The primary outcome measures were the levels of pain at rest and at maximum after exercise measured by the numeric pain rating scale. Other outcome measures included active and passive ranges of knee motion measured by standard goniometer, and ambulation measured by the timed up-and-go test.

Results: Thirty-six patients were recruited at the start of the study with 18 patients allocated to the acupuncture group and another 18 patients to the sham acupuncture group. On postoperative day 15, there were 30 patients with complete data; three patients in each group dropped out from the study. The mean differences (95% confidence interval (CI)) in overall averages of postoperative mean pain levels were 0.4 (—0.6 to 1.3) and —0.8 (—2.0 to 0.4) at rest and at maximum respectively. There were no significant differences in the active and passive ranges of knee motion and the time for the timed up-and-go test between the two groups.

Conclusion: There is no difference between the acute effects of acupuncture and sham acupuncture in addition to standard postoperative physiotherapy programme in patients with knee osteoarthritis undergoing bilateral total knee arthroplasty.

Clinical Rehabilitation, Vol. 21, No. 8, 719-728 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0269215507077362


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				H. H. Moffet Acupuncture Trial Lacks A Priori Rationale to Refute Null Hypothesis Arch Intern Med, March 10, 2008; 168(5): 550 - 551. [Full Text] [PDF]

				H. Moffet Letter to the Editor: Acupuncture trial with indistinguishable exposures is moot Clinical Rehabilitation, January 1, 2008; 22(1): 71 - 71. [PDF]

				R. C.-C. Tsang Letter to the editor: Authors' response: Acupuncture trial with indistinguishable exposures is moot Clinical Rehabilitation, January 1, 2008; 22(1): 71 - 72. [PDF]