Acupuncture is almost twice as effective as conventional medical treatment for chronic low back pain, a study published today suggests.
Researchers from the University of Regensburg in Germany identified 1,162 patients who had experienced low back pain for an average of eight years. They were divided into three groups: some 387 patients were given 10 sessions of traditional Chinese acupuncture; the same number of volunteers received sham acupuncture; and a third of patients were given conventional medical treatment.
The results, published this morning in the medical journal Annals of Internal Medicine, show that 47 per cent of the real acupuncture group and 44 per cent of the sham acupuncture group had a significant improvement in pain and functional ability some six months after being treated.
However, just 27 per cent of those who received conventional treatment - a combination of anti-inflammatory medication, physical therapy and exercise - showed a measurable improvement.
The patients studied had an average age of 50 and all had a clinical diagnosis of chronic low back pain for six months or longer. Treatments were carried out in 340 outpatient practices throughout Germany by doctors trained in acupuncture. The volunteers were randomly assigned to each treatment group: those given acupuncture did not know whether they received true or sham treatments.
Real acupuncture consisted of placing needles to a depth of 5-40mm according to traditional Chinese medicine. Sham acupuncture involved insertion of needles superficially (to a maximum depth of 3mm) into the lower back, while avoiding all known meridian points. Both forms of acupuncture were administered twice a week in sessions lasting 30 minutes.
Until now, no studies have compared acupuncture with guideline-based conventional medical treatment. According to www.clinicalevidence.com, acupuncture may be beneficial in reducing back pain in the short term, but experts say "we don't know how it compares with other active treatments".
Some 70-85 per cent of people in the Republic will experience low back pain at some time in their lives, while up to 7 per cent of those affected develop chronic low back pain (pain that lasts for 12 weeks or longer).
According to Dr Michael Haake and his co-authors, back pain is a major reason for absenteeism and disability. Previous studies indicate that fewer than 50 per cent of people with low back pain who have been off work for six months will return to employment.
Asked why both sham and traditional acupuncture treatment programmes were equally effective, the authors said: "The superiority of both forms of acupuncture suggest a common underlying mechanism that may act on pain generation, transmission of pain signals or processing of pain signals by the central nervous system.
"Acupuncture gives physicians a promising and effective option for chronic low back pain, with few adverse effects or contra-indications. The improvements in outcome measures were significant and lasted long after completion of treatment," they concluded.