The Impact of Patient expectations on outcomes in four randomized controlled trials of acupuncture in patients with chronic pain

Patients received either 12 sessions of acupuncture or minimal (sham) acupuncture (superficial needling of non-acupuncture points) over an 8 week period. Patients were asked at baseline whether they considered acupuncture to be an effective therapy in general and what they personally expected from the treatment. A significant association was shown between better improvement and higher outcome expectations.