The analgesic effect of acupuncture in chronic tennis elbow pain

Abstract

The immediate analgesic effect of a single non-segmental acupuncture stimulation treatment on chronic tennis elbow pain was studied in a placebo-controlled single-blind trial completed by 48 patients. Before and after treatment, all patients were examined physically by an unbiased independent examiner. Eleven-point box scales were used [13] for pain measurement. Patients in the verum group were treated at non-segmental distal points (homolateral leg) for elbow pain following Chinese acupuncture rules, whereas patients in the placebo group were treated with placebo acupuncture avoiding penetration of the skin with an acupuncture needle. Overall reduction in the pain score was 55.8% (S = 2.95) in the verum group and 15% (S = 2.77) in the placebo group. After one treatment 19 out of 24 patients in the verum group (79.2%) reported pain relief of at least 50% (placebo group: six patients out of 24). The average duration of analgesia after one treatment was 20.2 h in the verum group (S = 21.54) and 1.4 h (S = 3.50) in the placebo group. The results are statistically significant (P < 0.01); they show that non-segmental verum acupuncture has an intrinsic analgesic effect in the clinical treatment of tennis elbow pain which exceeds that of placebo acupuncture.