Acupuncture and other physical treatments for the relief of pain due to osteoarthritis of the knee: network meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To compare the effectiveness of acupuncture with other relevant physical treatments for alleviating pain due to knee osteoarthritis.

Design

Systematic review with network meta-analysis, to allow comparison of treatments within a coherent framework. Comprehensive searches were undertaken up to January 2013 to identify randomised controlled trials in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee, which reported pain.

Results

Of 156 eligible studies, 114 trials (covering 22 treatments and 9,709 patients) provided data suitable for analysis. Most trials studied short-term effects and many were classed as being of poor quality with high risk of bias, commonly associated with lack of blinding (which was sometimes impossible to achieve). End of treatment results showed

SUBMITTER: Corbett MS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3769860 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature