(Ivanhoe Newswire) May 12, 2009 -- If you experience chronic low back
pain, you might want to consider tiny needles as a therapy, and those needles
don't even have to penetrate the skin. One of the largest studies of its kind
found various types of acupuncture can ease symptoms in people with this common
pain.
Researchers studied 638 adults who had never received acupuncture before. The
patients were divided into four groups: those who received individualized
acupuncture, those who received standardized acupuncture, those who received
simulated acupuncture (without going through the skin), and those who received
usual care (no acupuncture).
Results of the study showed of the people who got any kind of acupuncture, an
extra one in five was functioning significantly better at the end of the
seven-week period. An extra one in eight was still functioning better at one
year.
Interestingly, researchers discovered the results were similar for all three
acupuncture groups. "We found that the simulated acupuncture, without
penetrating the skin, produced as much benefit as needle acupuncture, and that
raises questions about how acupuncture works," Daniel C. Cherkin, Ph.D., a
senior investigator at Group Health Center for Health Studies in Seattle, said
in a press release.
The investigators are not exactly sure why people found relief with the
simulated acupuncture. "Historically, some types of acupuncture have used
non-penetrating needles. Such treatments may involve physiological effects that
make a clinical difference," Karen J. Sherman, Ph.D., M.P.H., co-author of the
study was quoted as saying. "Maybe the context in which people get the treatment
has effects that are more important than the mechanically-induced effects."
SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, May 11, 2009
