Acupuncture as complementary medicine in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee

The popularity of integrative medicine, mainstream medical therapies combined with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), increased in recent years in the USA and western countries. However, evidence based data on the efficacy of integrative medicine and safety is incomplete. Until recently, research on the use of acupuncture in osteoarthritis had methodological limitations such as low sample size. Recently, two large phase III randomized clinical studies were published on the efficacy of acupuncture in osteoarthritis of the knee. The studies have shown that acupuncture serves as an effective complementary treatment to standard care, improves function and provides pain relief for people with osteoarthritis of the knee. These studies confirm the results of previous studies on acupuncture as effective complementary treatment to standard care. This review summarizes the results of randomized clinical trials of acupuncture for treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee.