Background: Evidence on the efficacy of acupuncture for reduc- ing the pain and dysfunction of osteoarthritis is equivocal. Objective: To determine whether acupuncture provides greater pain relief and improved function compared with sham acupunc- ture or education in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee

Results: Participants in the true acupuncture group experienced greater improvement in WOMAC function scores than the sham acupuncture group at 8 weeks (mean difference, 2.9 (95% CI, 5.0 to 0.8); P 0.01) but not in WOMAC pain score (mean difference, 0.5 (CI, 1.2 to 0.2); P 0.18) or the patient global assessment (mean difference, 0.16 (CI, 0.02 to 0.34); P > 0.2). At 26 weeks, the true acupuncture group experienced significantly greater improvement than the sham group in the WOMAC func- tion score (mean difference, 2.5 (CI, 4.7 to 0.4); P 0.01), WOMAC pain score (mean difference, 0.87 (CI, 1.58 to 0.16); P 0.003), and patient global assessment (mean difference, 0.26 (CI, 0.07 to 0.45); P 0.02). Limitations: At 26 weeks, 43% of the participants in the edu- cation group and 25% in each of the true and sham acupuncture groups were not available for analysis. Conclusions: Acupuncture seems to provide improvement in function and pain relief as an adjunctive therapy for osteoarthritis of the knee when compared with credible sham acupuncture and education control groups.