A new systematic review by academics at the University of
York suggests that acupuncture is at least as effective as other physical
therapies for short-term relief from the pain of osteoarthritis of the knee.
Researchers in the Department of Health Sciences and the
Centre for Reviews and Dissemination at York carried out the systematic review
with network meta-analysis, to allow comparison of range of physical
treatments. This novel method created a matrix that provided comparison of all
physical treatments even where there was no direct evidence of their respective
merits.