Acupuncture and the placebo response

A recent study comparing real acupuncture, laser acupuncture, and sham laser acupuncture with no treatment for knee arthritis showed that real acupuncture, laser acupuncture, and sham laser acupuncture all resulted in decrease in pain. In the media this study has been presented as evidence that acupuncture does not work and that any decrease in pain associated with acupuncture is the result of the placebo effect. In reality the story is more complicated than that. First of all, the study was small, with fewer than 20 patients in each treatment... [Read more...]