Wien Med Wochenschr. 1988 Nov; 138(22): 566-9.

[Comparison of the effectiveness of acupuncture and physical therapy in ambulatory patients with gonarthrosis]

Ammer K, Petschnig R.

Ludwig-Boltzmann-Forschungsstelle für physikalische Diagnostik, Wien.

A comparative study between acupuncture and physical therapy in patients with gonarthrosis is reported. Patients treated with physical therapy showed 4 parameters significantly reduced after a treatment duration of 2 weeks, and 7 out of 10 parameters after 4 weeks of therapy. Acupuncture could better 2 parameters but only after 4 weeks of treatment. Although physical therapy was superior in most of the objective measurements, the subjective judgement by the patients of the efficacy of both treatments found no significant difference. In summary acupuncture is thought to be only an additional form of treatment in gonarthrosis.