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Many people believe that acupuncture can relieve chronic pain (particularly headache and musculoskeletal pain), but most studies are small and of low quality; thus, considerable skepticism persists. This systematic review included only high-quality, randomized, controlled trials (patient-level data from 29 studies; 17,922 patients with headache; osteoarthritis; or shoulder, back, or neck pain) conducted with sham acupuncture, no acupuncture, or both as controls. Patients were followed for 1 to 6 months in most studies.
Significant, albeit modest, improvements in pain control were seen in acupuncture groups versus sham or no-acupuncture groups. The clinical benefit of acupuncture compared with no acupuncture translated to a difference of roug…