Questioning Medicine

Acupuncture vs Sham Acupuncture for Chronic Sciatica From Herniated Disk: A Randomized Clinical Trial | Complementary and Alternative Medicine | JAMA Internal Medicine | JAMA Network  In a randomized trial, acupuncture reduced pain and disability better than a sham procedure did.  In this trial from China, 216 adults (mean age, 51) were randomized to undergo 10 sessions of acupuncture or sham procedures during 4 weeks. All patients had moderate-to-severe unilateral leg pain attributed to imaging-confirmed disk herniation; mean duration of symptoms was 3 years (range, 1.3–10 years). Patients taking pain-modifying medications or with prior lumbar disk surgery were excluded.   The sham procedure consisted of blunt needles inserted into adhesive foam pads placed over non-acupoints. Patients who received acupuncture reported greater leg-pain relief at 4 weeks than did patients who received sham procedures (mean decrease on a 0–100-mm visual analog scale, 31 vs. 15 mm),    Improvements in pain and disability scores