(HealthDay News) – Individualized acupuncture treatment reduces some negative symptoms of chronic low back pain (cLBP) better than sham treatment, according to a study published in the April issue of Spine.
Yu-Jeong Cho , KMD, from Kyung Hee University in Seoul, Republic of Korea, and colleagues randomized 130 patients to receive either individualized real acupuncture treatments or sham acupuncture treatments for >6 weeks (twice a week) from Korean medicine doctors. Patients had nonspecific LBP lasting for ≥3 months prior to the trial.
The researchers found that from the 116 patients who completed the three- and six-month follow-ups, the only baseline difference between the groups was Oswestry Disability Index scores. At eight weeks, there was a significant difference in visual analogue scale (VAS) score for bothersomeness and pain intensity score of cLBP between the groups, but both scores improved significantly until the three-month follow-up. Both groups also saw similar improvements in Oswestry Disability Index, the Beck Depression Inventory, and Short Form-36 scores.
“This randomized sham-controlled trial suggests that acupuncture treatment shows better effect on the reduction of the bothersomeness and pain intensity than sham control in participants with cLBP,” the authors write.
