Alternative therapies in health and medicine
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Altern Ther Health Med · Mar 2016
Randomized Controlled TrialInternet-based Mindfulness Meditation for Cognition and Mood in Older Adults: A Pilot Study.
Older adults are at risk for greater chronic stress and cognitive decline. Training in mindfulness meditation (MM) may help reduce stress and, thus, cognitive decline in older adults, but little research has explored that hypothesis. ⋯ Administering interventions via the Internet to older adults is feasible. The 2 interventions were acceptable to participants and equal with regard to perceived credibility and acceptability. Future RCTs are planned to evaluate the clinical efficacy of the 2 interventions.
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Altern Ther Health Med · Mar 2016
Randomized Controlled TrialAcupuncture is Effective for Chronic Knee Pain: A Reanalysis of the Australian Acupuncture Trial.
Context • In the October 2014 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Hinman et al published the results of an Australian clinical trial on acupuncture in a paper entitled "Acupuncture for Chronic Knee Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial" (JAMA report), in which they concluded that neither acupuncture nor laser acupuncture had any greater effects than sham laser acupuncture for pain or function for patients aged 50 y and older with moderate-to-severe knee pain. That study has been criticized extensively by international scholars for its validity because serious methodological flaws existed throughout the study's design, implementation, and conclusions. Objective • The current study intended to re-examine the prior study's conclusions about the efficacy of acupuncture for chronic knee pain. ⋯ The ES of 0.60 for the MCID that was used in the JAMA study and the resulting explanation were not appropriate. Even with an ES of 0.60 for the MCID, acupuncture remained effective after data adjustment. Consequently, compared with conventional care, acupuncture treatment was found to be moderately effective for chronic knee pain in patients aged 50 y and older.