A meta-analysis of previously published acupuncture research articles  has concluded that acupuncture is effective for a number of chronic pain conditions.   The new meta-analysis incorporated data from 20,827 patients over 39 acupuncture trials. In four of every five RCTs, patients underwent between six and fifteen acupuncture sessions. The majority of patients received acupuncture one to two times per week. For most the typical acupuncture session lasted less than 30 minutes.

[betterpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The results confirm and strengthen previous key findings that acupuncture has a clinically relevant effect compared with no acupuncture control,”[/betterpullquote]

Results indicated that the effects of acupuncture were persistent over time, and that the benefits could not be explained away by the placebo effect.  They suggested that acupuncture would be “a reasonable option” to consider in patients with chronic pain

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