Acupuncture for Chronic Low Back Pain
|
| Illustration: Anne Asher 2007 Licensed to About.com |
The September 24, 2007 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine reports of a large, multi-center, blinded randomized trial (the most reliable type of study) comparing real acupuncture, to a sham version of acupuncture and also to regular conventional care for the lumbar spine. Sham acupuncture consists of "pretending" to give acupuncture by inserting needles superficially, but not really stimulating the points as laid out by Traditional Chinese Medicine. The study looked at over 1100 people in Germany who suffered low back pain for an average of 8 years.
This study may be the only one of its kind, according to the authors. Study participants were divided into three groups, each given 2 treatments per week. After 6 months of treatment, the progress of the patients were compared:
Those who recieved "real" acupuncture faired 20% better than those receiving conservative care. Those who received sham, or "pretend" acupuncture did almost 17% better than the conservative care patients.The authors of the study concluded that 6 months of acupuncture helped patients with chronic low back pain, with an effectiveness rate of nearly two times that of conservative care for back pain.
| Manage Chronic Back Pain Holistically | Treatment for Back Pain | Conservative Care Methods |
Comments
Dear readers,
The study by Haake et al. (1) that was recently published in “Archives of Internal Medicine” is an interesting one. Their results are promising and in line with previous findings (2). Moreover, acupuncture care for low back pain seems to be cost effective (3). Finally, Haake et al. (1) have used a strict methodology (4), making this a good scientific study. In our point of view, that’s the way to go…
All the best,
Maurits van den Noort & Peggy Bosch
(1) Haake, M., Müller, H-H., Schade-Brittinger, C., Basler, H.D., Schäfer, H. Maier, C., Endres, H.G., Trampisch, H.J., & Molsberger, A. (2007). German acupuncture trials (GERAC) for chronic low back pain: Randomized, multicenter, blinded, parallel-group trial with 3 groups. Archives of Internal Medicine, 167(17), 1892-1898.
(2) Carlsson, C.P., & Sjölund, B. (2001). Acupuncture for chronic low back pain: A randomized placebo-controlled study with long-term follow-up. Clinical Journal of Pain, 17(4), 296-305.
(3) Ratcliffe, J., Thomas, K.J., MacPherson, H., & Brazier, J. (2006). A randomised controlled trial of acupuncture care for persistent low back pain: Cost effectiveness analysis. British Medical Journal, 333(7569), 626-628.
(4) Bosch, M.P.C., & Van den Noort, M.W.M.L. (to appear). Schizophrenia, Sleep, and Acupuncture. Göttingen: Hogrefe & Huber.