title: Complementary or alternative therapies for osteoarthritis.
abstract: Complementary or alternative therapies for osteoarthritis are commonly used and therefore it is important that health-care providers and patients are aware of the evidence for or against these approaches. In this article, the best available evidence is reviewed. The results suggest that, for several treatments, the risk-benefit profile is encouraging: acupuncture, several herbal medicines and capsaicin cream. For other therapies the evidence is weak or contradictory: homeopathy, magnet therapy, tai chi, leech therapy, music therapy, yoga, imagery and therapeutic touch. Many other treatments have not been scientifically tested. It is concluded that some complementary or alternative therapies have generated sufficiently promising results to warrant further investigation in large-scale, definitive, randomized clinical trials.
authors.affiliation: Complementary Medicine Peninsula Medical School, Universities of Exeter & Plymouth, UK. Edzard.Ernst@pms.ac.uk
authors.forename: Edzard
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ernst
mesh_terms: D015670:Acupuncture Therapy; D002809:Chondroitin Sulfates / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000529:Complementary Therapies; D005944:Glucosamine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006705:Homeopathy; D006801:Humans; D008280:Magnetics / Q000627:therapeutic use; D010003:Osteoarthritis / Q000628:therapy*; D008517:Phytotherapy; D026302:Tai Ji; D015013:Yoga
chemical_list: D002809:Chondroitin Sulfates; D005944:Glucosamine