Acupuncture in the management of chronic low back pain: a blinded randomized controlled trial

Kerr, D. P.

Walsh, D. M.

Baxter, D.

The Clinical journal of pain

2003

19(6)

364-370

RCT

Acu Versus Sham

Acupuncture

Back Pain

Low Back Pain, Chronic

Exercise Therapy

Fixed Acupuncture Protocol

Low Back Pain

Non Penetrating Sham, Electrical

Pain

RCT

Restricted Modalities, Acupuncture Only

Sham Control

Sham TENS

TCM Acupuncture Style

Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation

Musculoskeletal Diseases

Musculoskeletal Pain

AcuTrials

OBJECTIVE To assess the efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of chronic low back pain.METHODS Patients (n = 60) with chronic low back pain were recruited and randomly allocated to either Acupuncture therapy or Placebo transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) groups. Patients were treated weekly for 6 weeks, and blinded assessments were carried out pre- and post-treatment using the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) and visual analog scales (VAS) for pain, the Short-form 36 quality-of-life questionnaire, and a simple range of motion measurement. A total of 46 patients completed the trial and were followed up at 6 months.RESULTS Analysis of results using t tests showed that in both groups there were significant pre-post improvements for all scores, except for MPQ scores in the Placebo-TENS group. There was no significant difference between the 2 groups for any of the outcome measures at the end of treatment. Results from the 6-month follow-up would suggest that the response was better in the acupuncture group.DISCUSSION Further research is necessary to fully assess the efficacy of this treatment in combating chronic low back pain using larger sample sizes or alternative control groups

Back Pain

1/WK

60

6 Weeks