• Business and Finance
• Family
• Computers and Internet
• Auto and Trucks
• Education
• Health
• Hobbies
• Home Improvement
• Legal
• Marketing

• Home
• Arthur's Articles Home
• Browse Categories
• Browse Authors
• Submit an Article
• Search for Articles

Home » Health Articles » I Want To Try Acupuncture For The Osteoarthritis In My Knee Does It Work

I Want To Try Acupuncture For The Osteoarthritis In My Knee... Does It Work?

The role of many complementary and alternative therapies for arthritis have come under careful scrutiny recently. Some therapies seem to work while others are a short step from snake oil. The difficult problem is separating the truly effective therapies from the ones that really don't work.

In arthritis this is more of a problem than many other conditions because the placebo response in clinical trials involving drugs used to treat arthritis can be as high as 40 per cent! What that means is that the mind plays a huge role in determining whether a given therapy will work... or not.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the leading cause of disability among older adults. The joint most affected is the knee. The prevalence, disability, and costs related to knee OA are expected to skyrocket in the next 25 years because of the aging of the population.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs have been the mainstay of therapy for OA of the knee. However, NSAIDS are only a bit better than placebo in the short term relief of OA pain. Also, NSAIDS are associated with many side effects including gastrointestinal bleeding, hypertension, and cardiovascular complications. Acetaminophen is sometimes used for mild OA pain; however, it also has potential problems including liver toxicity and the potential for kidney damage.

Non-drug therapies that have been proven to be effective include exercise and weight loss. Unfortunately, both of these often are difficult to do for patients with OA.

Acupuncture has been studied in a number of open and randomized clinical trials. Current evidence suggests that acupuncture may be an effective treatment for older patients with OA of the knee.

However, it has been difficult to fully assess the effectiveness because of the possibility of a strong placebo effect. Patient expectations and preferences may color the potential measurement of effectiveness of acupuncture as a treatment modality.

Acupuncture does seem to have a real biologic effect.

One problem with assessing the effectiveness of acupuncture has to do with clinical trial design as well as technique, settings, protocol design, and proficiency of the acupuncturists.

Acupuncture appears to be safe. This is born out by the short term improvement in pain and function compared with placebo.

The consensus is that it should be considered as part of a multidisciplinary approach to the management of OA of the knee. (Manheimer E, et al. Annals Int Med. 2007; 146: 868-877.)

And here is another random article you might be interested in...

Promote your Business and Products through Submitting Articles to Top Web Sites

Articles submitted to Online publishers bring your site new visitors and increase your ezine subscribers. You can also get these benefits by submitting your articles to top Web sites that not only promote your products, but also your services.

Here's how to get your articles on Web sites that have 1000- 500,000 visitors each day.

1. Run a search on the top search engines to find the top ten Web sites who need your content and will gladly post your articles. Try Alta Vista at: www.altavista.com or Google at www.google.com.

2.. Use this great shortcut to find sites your articles will fit with. Instead of searching for "product marketing" or something that is targeted, use the keyword "business" without the quotations. Type in "business" in the blank "search for" box, then search. You will have several million Web sites that are about business.

Next, replace the keyword "business" with two words: "submit article" then click on the box just below the "search for" box and click where it says: "Search Within these results" Now, do that subsearch and see the pages that allow you to submit business articles. Reaching these sites gives you great publicity as it helps increase your credibility.

3. Visit the Web sites to see their layout and whether or not they have a regular ezine that needs tips, excerpts, or stories.Notice the different article categories to see where your work fits. Check to see if they want new content in the article format. On some sites you can even see how many hits your article produced.

4. Submit two or three well-edited articles at a time to save time and effort. Submit one or so articles each week if possible.When you practice writing regularly, your articles improve. When you submit excellent articles full of useful, unique information, you will start to be known as the expert Online. You'll love it when people want to use the articles they see on one site for their own.

5. Submit these articles and get listed regularly by the search engines. The key words in your articles attract new visitors and potential clients and customers to your Web site or email address.

Get ready for web marketing. This proven way will bring you many rewards: new clients and new customers. You'll also become a household name in your field.