Effects of acupuncture at acupoints with lower versus higher pain threshold for knee osteoarthritis: a multicenter randomized controlled trial

Liu J, Li Y, Li L, Luo X, Li N, Yang X, Zhang H, Liu Z, Kang D, Luo Y, Liu Y, Jia Y, Ren Y, Yao M, Wang Y, Chen J, Maiji M, Zou K, Zhao L, Liang F, Sun X · Chinese Medicine · 2022 June 08

DOI 10.1186/s13020-022-00626-3

Objective

To investigate whether acupuncture at acupoints with lower pain thresholds versus higher pain thresholds produces different effects in patients with knee osteoarthritis.

Conclusions

The study found that acupuncture at acupoints with lower and higher pain thresholds had similar effects and that both were effective for patients with knee osteoarthritis.

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Insights

For knee osteoarthritis, acupuncture improved symptoms regardless of whether treatment points had lower or higher pain sensitivity.

In this multicentre randomised clinical trial, people with knee osteoarthritis were assigned to acupuncture at points with lower pain thresholds, acupuncture at points with higher pain thresholds, or a waiting-list control group. Researchers measured pain thresholds using an electronic pressure-sensitivity device and assessed osteoarthritis symptoms, general health status, and active knee movement over sixteen weeks. Analyses included all randomly assigned participants. Both acupuncture approaches reduced knee osteoarthritis symptoms more than waiting without acupuncture. However, selecting treatment points according to lower or higher pain sensitivity produced similar symptom improvement, general health outcomes, and knee movement, indicating that pain-threshold-based point selection did not meaningfully alter acupuncture effectiveness.