Acupuncture in patients with chronic low back pain: a randomized controlled trial
- PMID: 16505266
- DOI: 10.1001/archinte.166.4.450
Acupuncture in patients with chronic low back pain: a randomized controlled trial
Abstract
Background: Acupuncture is widely used by patients with low back pain, although its effectiveness is unclear. We investigated the efficacy of acupuncture compared with minimal acupuncture and with no acupuncture in patients with chronic low back pain.
Methods: Patients were randomized to treatment with acupuncture, minimal acupuncture (superficial needling at nonacupuncture points), or a waiting list control. Acupuncture and minimal acupuncture were administered by specialized acupuncture physicians in 30 outpatient centers, and consisted of 12 sessions per patient over 8 weeks. Patients completed standardized questionnaires at baseline and at 8, 26, and 52 weeks after randomization. The primary outcome variable was the change in low back pain intensity from baseline to the end of week 8, as determined on a visual analog scale (range, 0-100 mm).
Results: A total of 298 patients (67.8% female; mean +/- SD age, 59 +/- 9 years) were included. Between baseline and week 8, pain intensity decreased by a mean +/- SD of 28.7 +/- 30.3 mm in the acupuncture group, 23.6 +/- 31.0 mm in the minimal acupuncture group, and 6.9 +/- 22.0 mm in the waiting list group. The difference for the acupuncture vs minimal acupuncture group was 5.1 mm (95% confidence interval, -3.7 to 13.9 mm; P = .26), and the difference for the acupuncture vs waiting list group was 21.7 mm (95% confidence interval, 13.9-30.0 mm; P<.001). Also, at 26 (P=.96) and 52 (P=.61) weeks, pain did not differ significantly between the acupuncture and the minimal acupuncture groups.
Conclusion: Acupuncture was more effective in improving pain than no acupuncture treatment in patients with chronic low back pain, whereas there were no significant differences between acupuncture and minimal acupuncture.
Comment in
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The acupuncture randomized trials study (back pain) was unblinded too early.Arch Intern Med. 2006 Jul 24;166(14):1527-8; author reply 1528. doi: 10.1001/archinte.166.14.1527-b. Arch Intern Med. 2006. PMID: 16864767 No abstract available.
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Acupuncture was better than no acupuncture but did not differ from minimal (sham) acupuncture for chronic low back pain at 8 weeks.Evid Based Nurs. 2006 Oct;9(4):111. doi: 10.1136/ebn.9.4.111. Evid Based Nurs. 2006. PMID: 17039640 No abstract available.
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