Acupuncture May Ease Chronic Back Pain

Acupuncture May Ease Chronic Back Pain
Study Shows Acupuncture Trumps Standard Care for Back Pain Relief
By Kathleen Doheny
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

The ancient technique of acupuncture helps relieve chronic back pain better than standard care such as medications or physical therapy, according to a new study.

Even more surprising, all three acupuncture techniques tested -- including a "sham" technique with toothpicks and no skin puncturing -- worked better than the usual care given for the problem.

"Acupuncture-like treatments had a positive effect overall on people's chronic back pain," says study researcher Dan Cherkin, PhD, a senior investigator at Group Health Center for Health Studies in Seattle. "It didn't matter if you inserted the needle or superficially poked [the skin]."

That finding, Cherkin says, leads to more speculation about how the centuries-old technique actually works.

The study is published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Cherkin and colleagues assigned 638 men and women with chronic low back pain who had never before had acupuncture to one of four groups:

• Individualized acupuncture group. Patients received acupuncture treatment based on a customized prescription for acupuncture points.
• Standardized acupuncture group. Patients received an acupuncture treatment considered effective by experts for chronic low back pain.
• Simulated acupuncture group. Patients received a treatment that mimics needle acupuncture but used a toothpick in a needle guide tube without penetrating the skin.
• Usual care group. Patients continued whatever they were doing, such as taking pain medicine or undergoing physical therapy.

Acupuncture treatments were given two times a week for three weeks, then once a week for four weeks. The researchers measured back pain-related problems and dysfunction at eight weeks, a half year, and one year after the treatments.

Participants in the trial, funded by the National Institutes of Health, were told only that the researchers were comparing three different methods of stimulating acupuncture points.

Acupuncture vs. 'Usual Care'

"The individualized acupuncture did not provide any benefit over the standardized acupuncture," Cherkin tells WebMD. "The simulated acupuncture, which did stimulate the standardized points, also had the same effect. All three did better than usual care."

Those who got any of the acupuncture treatments were more likely than those getting usual care to have a "meaningful" improvement in the dysfunction scale, which reflects the ability to engage in activities of daily living. Overall, 60% of the acupuncture-treated patients, but just 39% of the usual-care group patients, had meaningful improvements in dysfunction, the researchers found.

That translated to those in the acupuncture group being able to do more daily activities, such as going to social functions or performing household tasks, Cherkin tells WebMD.

After a year, those in the acupuncture groups were also more likely than the usual-care group to continue to have improvement in dysfunction, with up to 65% of the acupuncture-treated patients but just 50% of the usual-care patients still reporting improvements. But the improvement waned over time.

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Acupuncture Therapy How to

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Telp. (021) 2300323

Acupuncture Therapy is a Chinese therapy that has been used for centuries. It is based on the theory that energy flow called qi or chi in the body. Whatever it is assumed that the flow on the lines of energy called meridians. Acupuncturists believe a blocking or imbalance in the flow of chi at any point on a road can cause disease. Doctors of Chinese medicine, acupuncture believe in balance and free flow of Chi to heal.

People often use acupuncture to treat pain. Western medical researchers who have studied acupuncture believe that it may reduce pain through body chemicals, calming effects (opioid peptides), or glands (such as the hypothalamus) that produce substances the body uses.

Traditional Chinese acupuncture usually is done by placing a very fine needle into the skin in certain areas of the body the energy flow in the meridians of the body to exert their influence. Other forms of acupuncture may use heat, pressure or a mild electric current to the energy flow along these meridians to stimulate.

What is acupuncture used for?

People use acupuncture to relieve pain and treat certain health conditions. You can use it by itself or as part of a treatment program. Studies have found promising results for the use of acupuncture in treating nausea and vomiting related to pregnancy, chemotherapy, and postsurgery pain. Acupuncture also may be useful for:

• Stroke rehabilitation, which involves relearning skills that a person lost because of brain damage from a stroke.
• Headache. A recent study shows that adding acupuncture to standard treatment leads to significant, long-lasting relief from chronic headaches, especially migraines.1
• Menstrual cramps.
• Tennis elbow.
• Fibromyalgia, or widespread pain and tenderness of muscle and soft tissue.
• Myofascial pain, caused by spasm in the muscles.
• Osteoarthritis, or the breakdown of the tissue (cartilage) that protects and cushions joints. A recent study found that acupuncture can reduce knee pain and increase movement of the knee in people with osteoarthritis.2
• Low back pain.
• Carpal tunnel syndrome, or pressure on a nerve in the wrist that results in tingling, numbness, weakness, or pain of the fingers and hand.
• Asthma, or inflammation in the tubes that carry air to the lungs, resulting in periodic episodes of difficulty breathing, wheezing, chest tightness, and coughing.
• Dental pain.
• Labor pain.

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