Pins and needles in your leg? No, not thooooooooooose kinds of pins and needles. We are talking acupuncture needles of course! Acupuncture had been used for several hundreds of years in Traditional Chinese Medicine and involves the application of small, pin like needles into receptive points (pardon the pun!) in the body.
This treatment modality can be utilised to treat a wide array of acute and chronic ailments, including musculoskeletal problems and osteoarthritis. A recent systematic review published involved the evaluation of 12 randomized controlled trials, which included 1763 participants suffering from Osteoarthritis.
Pain relief, increased joint mobility and health related quality of life were all measured in relation to acupuncture treatment. Ten of the twelve trials found a significant reduction in pain associated with osteoarthritis, with multiple treatments spanning a period longer than 4 weeks being the most effective at relieving this pain. Joint mobility was also found to be significantly improved when compared with placebo.
Health related quality of life in osteoarthritis sufferers who underwent acupuncture treatment was reported to increase as well. Sounds pretty good doesn’t it? If you are suffering from Arthritis consider looking up your local Acupuncturist for a treatment and gain some pain relief, increased joint mobility and best of all, health related quality of life!
