Trial to test laser acupuncture treatment for osteoarthritis

The potential for laser acupuncture to provide painless and effective treatment for osteoarthritis knee pain is being put to the test in a clinical trial beginning in Sydney. Traditional Chinese medicine practitioner Meikin Li Rees is recruiting 60 participants for the trial, being undertaken as part of her PhD research at UTS.

“Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis and the major cause of musculoskeletal pain and immobility in elderly people worldwide,” Ms. Rees said. ”In Australia, arthritis affects some 3.4 million people – nearly 17 per cent of the population.

“Of the proportion of Australians affected, 60 per cent are women and 60 per cent of all people living with arthritis are of working age. ”If the current trend continues, one in five people, or around 4.6 million Australians, are forecast to be living with arthritis by 2020.”

Ms. Rees said the Osteoarthritis Research Society International already recommends needle acupuncture among treatments for the management of OA of the knee or hip. ”The UTS study will involve the use of the comparatively new derivative of needle acupuncture that involves the irradiation of acupuncture points with a low-intensity laser,” she said.