ALMOST 300 patients from hospital waiting lists in Southampton are being recruited for a study aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of acupuncture treatment.

The three-year project, which is sponsored by the Department of Health, will see researchers at Southampton University investigating what it is about the treatment that provides relief for the sufferer.

It follows on from a trial of acupuncture for the treatment of chronic neck pain, which demonstrated a 60 per cent reduction in pain.

Led by Dr Peter White, senior research fellow at the university's complementary research unit, the team will recruit patients from orthopaedic waiting lists and assess three areas - the efficiency of the treatment, the effect of patient/practitioner interaction and the effects of two currently used placebo controls.

Each patient will receive a four-week course of treatment, either real acupuncture or one of two placebos.

After the treatment phase of the trial, some of the patients will be interviewed at home so their responses can be fed into future research programmes.

Dr White said: "We are particularly interested in the non-specific effects of acupuncture treatment, in particular the patient/practitioner interaction, or therapeutic process.

"To some extent, modern based medicine has failed to value this individual and very personal interaction between patient and therapist.

"Perhaps complementary and alternative medicine treatments can present a valuable model design through which we may understand this process."