Needlework: Acupuncture was significantly more effective than conventional therapy, whether it followed traditional Chinese techniques or not. The benefits of acupuncture were also found to last long after the treatment ended.
Credit: iStockphoto
WASHINGTON: Six months of acupuncture could prove significantly more effective then conventional treatment in curing lower back pain, according to a new study.
"Low back pain is a common, impairing and disabling condition, often long-term, with an estimated lifetime prevalence of 70 to 85 per cent," write medics led by medical doctor Michael Haake of the University of Regensburg, in Germany.
"Acupuncture gives physicians a promising and effective treatment option for chronic low back pain, with few adverse effects or contraindications," they said.
Haake's team of doctors carried out a clinical trial of some 1,162 patients, with an average age of 50, who had suffered from back pain for around eight years.
Pain-generation mechanism
A third of the group were given 10, half-hour acupuncture sessions, based on traditional Chinese medicine with the needles inserted to between five to 40 mm under the skin. Another third, some 387 patients, were given 'sham' acupuncture, with the needles only implanted to between one to three millimetres. The final group were given conventional therapy of medication and physical therapy combined with exercise.
After six months, 47.6 per cent of those receiving Chinese acupuncture had noticed an improvement in their condition, along with 44.2 per cent in the sham group. However, only 27.4 per cent of the group receiving conventional therapy, reported any improvement said the study published in the JAMA journal, the Archives of Internal Medicine.
"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... mechanism of conventional therapy," the authors said.
The benefits of acupuncture also lasted beyond treatment, the study concluded.
