ACUPUNCTURE and OSTEOARTHRITIS

The purpose of the study is to determine if acupuncture is effective as an alternative therapy for easing the pain of osteoarthritis of the knee in older women. Study participants will include a minimum of 20 elderly females, ages 65 years or more, from a local acupuncture clinic, which are receiving acupuncture for pain due to knee osteoarthritis. Survey research will be used to assess the perceptions of these women regarding the effectiveness of the acupuncture for relief of pain (at 8, 26, and 52 weeks). Perceptions of pain prior to and following acupuncture treatments will be compared to test the following hypothesis: acupuncture will result in significantly decreased pain due to osteoarthritis of the knee in older women. This study is important since patients with knee osteoarthritis report that traditional treatment methods do not alleviate pain and many patients seek alternate methods of treatment such as acupuncture.

Chronic pain associated with arthritis is estimated to affect 40 million people in the United States, with costs of $65 billion estimated in 1992 (Sign, Berman, Hadhazy, and Bareta 59). Osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis and osteoarthritis of the knee is the most common cause of elderly disability. The most common symptoms in osteoarthritis of the knee are chronic pain, followed by stiffness, instability and buckling, and limited

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hour sessions for 12 weeks or 23 sham sessions for 26 weeks. Findings were that true acupuncture resulted in greater improvement at 8 weeks for function but not pain or global assessment. Results also showed that at 26 weeks function, pain, and global assessment were significantly improved for the true acupuncture group (Berman, Lao, Langenberg, and Lee 902). Short-Term Effectiveness of Acupuncture Witt, Brinkhaus, Jena, Linde, Streng, Wagenpfeil, Hummelsberger, Walther, Melchart, and Willich (2005) provided support for the short-term effectiveness of acupuncture for knee osteoarthritis, however long-term results were less positive. In a study of 76 patients and a waiting list control of 74 patients, patients completed questionnaires at 8, 26, and 52 weeks. Findings showed that while at 8 weeks patients improved in pain and joint function compared to controls, the benefit decreased over time. In a study of 73 patients with knee pain, patients' results were measured at four and eight weeks. Findings showed significant improvements at both four and eight weeks compared to standard treatment. However declines in effects were noted at four weeks after treatment (Berman, Singh, Lao, and Langenberg 346). In a study of 290
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Approximate Word count = 2364
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)