Patients often speak about their experiences of acupuncture treatment. A comment I hear frequently is: “It helped… but it could have just been placebo.” But is acupuncture solely down to the placebo effect? 

What does the evidence say?

The gold standard of research evidence are systematic reviews, which look at a number of high-quality clinical trials to assess the research on a particular topic. In healthcare they can be used to answer questions of efficacy and inform evidence-based treatments. 

A recent systematic review, Vickers et al 2018, looked at acupuncture for chronic pain in over 20,000 adults. This included back or neck pain, shoulder pain, chronic headache and osteoarthritis. It concludes that acupuncture is effective for the treatment of chronic pain, the effects persist over a 12-month period, and that it is not a placebo treatment for pain.

Understanding placebo in acupuncture research

In clinical trials, placebo is defined as an inert substance prepared to look similar to the active product being studied. However, the placebo used in many acupuncture trials may not be inert. For example, when acupuncture is compared to sham acupuncture which uses penetrating needles, the effect size is reduced. This is due to the sham acupuncture being physiologically active. Instead, by comparing acupuncture to other treatments (pragmatic trials), such as usual care or physiotherapy we can start to see a different picture emerging, one that shows acupuncture to be a safe and effective treatment.

Acupuncture is an evidence-based medicine

The evidence base for acupuncture is growing and demonstrates that acupuncture is not a placebo treatment. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) include acupuncture in their guidelines for treatment of headaches in over 12s and chronic pain (primary and secondary) in over 16s. If you would like to learn more about acupuncture research, please visit the British Acupuncture Council’s guide on acupuncture research and the Evidence Based Acupuncture website.

Curious about whether acupuncture may help you?

You’re always welcome to get in touch. Sunny is happy to talk through what’s involved, what the research shows and whether acupuncture might be a suitable treatment option for your individual circumstances.