 Osteoarthritis is a degenerative condition that often causes pain, stiffness, and limited mobility, which can affect daily activities and reduce independence. As the cartilage in the knee joint wears away over time, bones can rub together, leading to discomfort and inflammation. While conventional treatments such as pain medication and even surgery are common, acupuncture offers a natural, drug-free alternative that may significantly reduce pain, improve function, and enhance overall quality of life for those living with knee osteoarthritis.
Some of the common symptoms of knee osteoarthritis include:
HOW ACUPUNCTURE MAY HELP Acupuncture may provide several benefits for those living with knee osteoarthritis:
WHAT TO EXPECT Acupuncture for knee osteoarthritis begins with a consultation, during which we will assess your symptoms, lifestyle, and medical history. Based on this information, we will create a customised treatment plan. We will then insert thin, single-use, sterile needles into specific acupuncture points. These points may be located around the knee, leg, or even distal points on the body (such as the arm or back - which surprises many people!) that influences knee function. Once the needles are inserted, you will rest for about 20 to 30 minutes. During this time, you may experience a tingling sensation, warmth, or relaxation - many people fall asleep. A series of treatments is typically recommended for knee osteoarthritis. ACUPUNCTURE FOR POST-OPERATIVE PAIN Sometimes surgery is a necessary approach for addressing certain health conditions - whether that be for joint issues or other health concerns, as it may offer the best chance for recovery and improved quality of life when other treatments are insufficient. Acupuncture has been shown to provide several benefits for managing post-operative pain, including:
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Though acupuncture is well known for its effectiveness in treating pain conditions, what often prompts people to come to see us at Bribie Acupuncture for treatment is not the pain itself but the impact the pain has on their quality of life. Pain can stop you from enjoying your morning walks, keep you off the golf course, or prevent you from running your best time in the next race.
One of the main nerves in our legs is called the sciatic nerve which traverses from the lower back, through the buttock and down the leg. When the nerve is inflamed, pain, numbness, and/or weakness is often felt in the buttock and upper leg - in some cases the pain can travel down to the feet, down the back or side of the leg. Sciatica can literally be a big pain in the butt! It is estimated that up to 40% of people experience sciatica at some point during their lives, most commonly in people in their 40’s or 50’s, and more commonly in men than women. Sciatic pain may be constant or it may be felt as a sudden pinching sensation. Oftentimes sciatica cannot be blamed on a specific trauma - sometimes simply bending, lifting, or straining may aggravate it. Even sitting for extended periods, such as during long car rides, may be the culprit. Pain is triggered when pressure is put on the sciatic nerve such as from the spinal discs or tight muscles, or more seriously spinal disc herniation, when a portion of the spinal disc bulges out of the spinal column and pushes on the sciatic nerve, or spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spinal canal. Fortunately tight muscles or spasms are the most common cause of sciatica, which can be treated more easily. Often the root cause is a tight piriformis muscle in the buttocks, but other muscles in the lower back and pelvic region often contribute to sciatic pain. TIGHT MUSCLES & MUSCLE SPASMS Though the source of pain can sometimes be obvious, often more subtle dysfunctions in the nervous system result in neuropathic pain (nerve pain) which cannot be seen on x-rays or ultrasound scans. Oftentimes this pain involves the nerve to muscle connection where affected muscles that have become shortened/ tightened or overstretched/ loosened, physically compounds the pain due to reduced blood flow. A classic example is someone who suffers back pain after long periods of sitting: though their back muscles may of course be affected, often the muscles in their buttocks become overstretched and the muscles at the top of their thigh become overly tight (simply due to the body position while seated), and the muscles become inhibited or “switch off”, causing pain to refer to the back. Or, in the case of sciatica, the tight muscles could be pushing on the sciatic nerve. When muscles are inhibited, matters can become more complex as these muscles can feel weak and we often compensate by altering our posture, creating more dysfunction in other areas of the body, creating a domino effect. We likely all know someone who has injured their knee, then started walking with a tilted posture, and wound up also having back pain. The first step to treatment with acupuncture is an assessment of which muscles may be contributing to the condition. Once this is determined, we are able to find the points in which nerves meet those muscles, known as motor points. When an acupuncture needle is used on a motor point with an electric impulse, it creates a contraction and relaxation phase releasing tight contracted bands of muscle or tightens overstretched bands of muscle. This is like hitting a reset button. The results are immediate pain relief and improved muscle contractibility and mobility. Acupuncture has been shown to be an effective treatment for sciatica, eliminating or significantly decreasing pain and increasing quality of life. Research has shown acupuncture to be successful in treating back pain and sciatica through the following mechanisms:
6000 BCE - Sharp bone and stone instruments are discovered in China, described as ‘pieces of stone used for treating illness by pricking the body’.
198 BCE - Burial tombs, amongst other artifacts unearthed in 1973, depict a medical practice related to acupuncture meridian systems. 552 AD - Acupuncture begins its migration from China to Japan and Korea. 1368-1600 - Acupuncture becomes one of the primary care systems used in China, alongside herbs, massage, diet, and moxibustion. 1500-1700 - The Dutch East India Company introduces acupuncture to Europe. 1822 - Acupuncture suffers a decline in China. 1880 - Acupuncture is introduced in Australia during the gold rush period by Chinese gold diggers. 1949 - Following the installation of the Communist government in China, all traditional forms of medicine are re-established and encouraged, including acupuncture. 1971 - In preparation for the unprecedented visit to China by US President Nixon, a US press corps member is treated with acupuncture following an emergency appendectomy. He describes his experience in the New York Times and as a result, teams of US physicians tour China to assess acupuncture's therapeutic applications. 1979 - The World Health Organisation conducts a symposium on acupuncture in China. 1997 - The National Institute of Health in the United States declares there is sufficient evidence of acupuncture's value to expand its use into conventional medicine. 2000 - Research into acupuncture as a medical treatment grows exponentially, increasing at twice the rate of research into conventional biomedicine. From 2000-2020, there have been over 13,000 studies conducted in 60 countries, including hundreds of meta-analyses. 2012 - Mandatory national registration of acupuncturists with the Chinese Medicine Board of Australia, under the governance of the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, a government body that manages the registration of all health practitioners. 2017 - The Acupuncture Evidence Project reviewed the effectiveness of acupuncture for 122 treatments over 14 clinical areas. Evidence of effect was found for 117 conditions, including knee osteoarthritis, lower back pain, and headache.
Thirty-eight other conditions had evidence of positive effect, including irritable bowel syndrome, menopausal hot flushes, neck pain, sciatica, and post-stroke rehabilitation.
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