• Raymond Chi-Chung Tsang, Pui-Ling Tsang, Chung-Yee Ko, Ben Chi-Hung Kong, Wing-Yee Lee, and Ho-Ting Yip.
• Physiotherapy Department, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong, China. tsangccr@ha.org.hk
• Clin Rehabil. 2007 Aug 1;21(8):719-28.

ObjectiveTo compare the acute effects of acupuncture with sham acupuncture on knee pain, range of motion and ambulation in patients with knee osteoarthritis undergoing bilateral total knee arthroplasty, when added to a standard postoperative physiotherapy programme.DesignProspective patient- and assessor-blinded randomized controlled trial.SettingAcute inpatient physiotherapy department.PatientsThirty patients (24 women and 6 men) undergoing bilateral total knee arthroplasty were included for final analysis in the study.InterventionsBoth groups received a standard postoperative physiotherapy programme. Each patient was also given either 10 sessions of acupuncture or sham acupuncture within two weeks.Main Outcome MeasuresThe primary outcome measures were the levels of pain at rest and at maximum after exercise measured by the numeric pain rating scale. Other outcome measures included active and passive ranges of knee motion measured by standard goniometer, and ambulation measured by the timed up-and-go test.ResultsThirty-six patients were recruited at the start of the study with 18 patients allocated to the acupuncture group and another 18 patients to the sham acupuncture group. On postoperative day 15, there were 30 patients with complete data; three patients in each group dropped out from the study. The mean differences (95% confidence interval (CI)) in overall averages of postoperative mean pain levels were 0.4 (-0.6 to 1.3) and -0.8 (-2.0 to 0.4) at rest and at maximum respectively. There were no significant differences in the active and passive ranges of knee motion and the time for the timed up-and-go test between the two groups.ConclusionThere is no difference between the acute effects of acupuncture and sham acupuncture in addition to standard postoperative physiotherapy programme in patients with knee osteoarthritis undergoing bilateral total knee arthroplasty.

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