Study Bolsters Acupuncture’s Position as a Provider of Low Back Pain Relief
Acupuncture treatment for low back pain should receive a boost in popularity as more sufferers of the condition consider the results of a recently completed study in Germany. Acupuncture out performed conventional therapy by a significant margin of more than 20 percent during the course of a 6-month treatment period in bringing relief to study participants.
The study involved 1,162 patients averaging 50 years in age who had suffered from low back pain for an average of 8 years. The subjects were divided into three different treatment groups. The first received traditional Chinese verum Acupuncture, (a form of standardized Acupuncture), the second group received sham (false) Acupuncture, and the third group received conventional therapy that consisted of a combination of medication, physical therapy and exercise. The results were published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
“Low back pain is a common, impairing and disabling condition, often long-term, with an estimated lifetime prevalence of 70 to 85 percent,” according to the authors of the study. “It is the second most common pain for which physician treatment is sought and a major reason for absenteeism and disability.” However, while Acupuncture is growing in use as an alternative therapy, its value for low back pain treatment is still controversial, according to the authors.
Michael Haake, Ph.D., M.D. of the University of Regensburg, Bad Abbach, Germany, was the study leader. He and colleagues divided the groups as follows: 387 verum Acupuncture, 367 sham Acupuncture, and 388 conventional therapies. Verum Acupuncture consisted of needling known Acupuncture points to a depth of between 5 and 40 millimeters based on traditional Chinese medicine. Sham Acupuncture needling depth was between 1 and 3 millimeters, avoiding all points and meridians. Conventional therapy included medication, exercise and physical therapy. Each session lasted about 30 minutes, and was done twice per week.
The finding of the study showed that Acupuncture out performed conventional therapy by a wide margin. Most interestingly, the group that enjoyed the next highest amount of improvements was the sham Acupuncture group. As measured by study parameters, 47.6 percent in the verum Acupuncture group achieved a positive response. Next was a 44.2 percent response rate in the sham group, followed by only 27.4 percent improvement in the conventional therapy group.
“The superiority of both forms of Acupuncture suggests a common underlying mechanism that may act on pain generation, transmission of pain signals or processing of pain signals by the central nervous system and that is stronger than the action mechanism of conventional therapy,” the authors concluded. “Acupuncture gives physicians a promising and effective treatment option for chronic low back pain with few adverse effects. The improvements in all primary and secondary outcome measures were significant and lasted long after completion of treatment.”