STUDY: Acupuncture Helps Relieve Chronic Back Pain

NPR:

Acupuncture certainly isn't a cure-all. But there is gathering evidence to suggest that it can be beneficial. The latest study, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, finds that a seven-week course of acupuncture helped many patients ease the pain of chronic lower back pain. The study is published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Read the whole story: NPR

Comments

[Cay]

Thanks for the Barack Obama link. I will be sure to email and emphasize that we should be prioritizing research into treatments which have scientific plausibility. There is only so much money and spending it to continue investigating ideas like chiropractic and acupuncture is a waste of tax-payers' money. Oh and if reason doesn't work for you. Here's one of my own heartwarming anecdotes.

I was born with kidneys that don't process calcium well, so I often get kidney stones. A few months ago I was in hideous pain from two stuck kidney stones. My husband took me to the hospital where welcoming and warm people immediately starting giving me fluids, anti-nausea drugs and pain medication. I stopped sweating and vomiting and was able to think coherently while I lay pain-free on a bed with warm blankets. Within hours, a urologist had blasted and removed the stones and we were on our way home to our two children.

Here's more to that story. The treatment for kidney stones like mine has improved even in my 17 year history of having them. Medical science discovered, tested and incorporated new treatments because that's how science works!

[Jonahson]

Alternative treatment is not meant to replace modern medicine. I think people who are biased about acupunture and other alternative treatment misconstrued the point. You may be comfortable with modern medicine it dosen't mean what you are ignorant of doesn't work . Acupuncture is not a cure all treatment. it can bring much relief to certain disease that are painful. It is also practiced in the US by people who are trained in modern medicine. Of course it is a waste of money if you try to invent acupunture, instead you can collaborate with Eastern Medical Centers in China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan on the more advance researches done there. That would safe time and money. Another reason acupuncture researches are still being carried in this country is because they are discovering new treatment for other disease..

[Cay]

This headline and the NPR story completely mis-represented the conclusions of this study. It does NOT show that acupuncture helps relieve back pain. What it showed can't really be expressed accurately in a eye-grabbing headline, but it might be something like "acupuncture in addition to standard medical care has the same benefits as acupuncturish treatments in addition to standard medical care in helping relieve lower back pain." Because that's what the study showed.

Here's a summary of the study: There were 4 groups of patients - all groups had standard medical care for back pain. 3 of the 4 groups had something else in addition. Group 1 had text-book acupuncture, group 2 had more free-style acupuncture, group 3 had fake acupuncture. All three of those groups did slightly better than the one with standard medical care alone. There can be two conclusions from this: 1) fake acupuncture did as well as real acupuncture 2) doing something in addition to standard medical care did better than standard medical care alone.

Makes me angry when people are misled by shoddy reporting of scientific studies like this. If you want to get acupuncture go ahead, but don't go assuming this study shows it works.

[wm1066]

There is a book called "the Tooth from the Tigers Mouth" that has healing methods used by Martial Artists. It has acupressure points for torn ligaments etc. plus what foods to eat with various injuries.
I took a fall from my bike and tore my rotator cuff and the acupressure points they talk about seem to help.

[Milinda]

I have Psoriatic Arthritis and am on weekly injections of Methotrexate to supress my immune system. I have exhausted the use of NSAIDs due to kidney damage from them. I have had steroid shots in my joints which are incredibly painful and work only up to a certain length of time and cause damage if used too often. I have had problems with habituation from pain killers and do not want to go that route again.
All that said, I have significant relief from acupuncture treatments which are administered by my Rheumatologist. They make all the difference in the quality of my life in that I am able to walk, garden and sleep without pain. I think for me, this goes far beyond a "placebo" effect. I cannot speak for anyone else, but for me, these treatments have made the difference between movement and no movement. Ultimately, we all have to decide these things for ourselves but this is my experience.

[Jonahson]

I am glad you took the plunge. Acupuncture if administered by a qualified physician is safe with no side effect and the relief it brings is longer lasting. Eastern practices are still a mystery to people in the US. The economic down turn have hurt many people financially and those needing long term treatment for chronic pain may have a hard time getting affordable treatment I only wish people would look a little further for help. If acupuncture doesn't work, one can always stop and go back to conventional medication.

[Jonahson]

Here is an article from the American cancer Society
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/NWS/content/NWS_1_1x_Acupuncture_May_Help_With_Side_Effects_of_Hormone_Therapy_Study_Finds.asp

[Thenewyorkdollley]

"While the results of this study offer solid evidence in support of using acupuncture as an alternative to antidepressant medication for treating the side effects of hormone therapy, this study was relatively small and has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal. More research is needed."

This is a huge, huge, HUGE red flag. Small studies are considered to be of lower quality than large, and studies that aren't peer reviewed..­.

Going public with your results before you publish is a sign that there is something fishy under the hood.

[Jonahson]

People who shut their mind off by clinging to certain information available to them in their country and ignoring the many evidence and other research work done elsewhere are basically people who spend most of their lives present living in their country. They consider only their own country's reseacrh as authentic .
Test your general knowledge by not looking it up in the internet for the answer. See how much you know about the outside World.
In year 2002 there was an outbreak of SARS and within less than a year there were more than 8000 cases with 9.6% fatality. The disease was finally contained through proper hygienic practices, culling
and a combination of Western and traditional Chinese ways. What is the traditional 'way' mentioned?

The point is narrow mindness will cause US to lose out some of the proven traditional Eastern practices. Normally pharmaceutical pay to do researches in the hope to make discovery so that they can patent the active ingredients and make huge amount money out of it.

[Thenewyorkdollley]

"Normally pharmaceutical pay to do researches in the hope to make discovery so that they can patent the active ingredients and make huge amount money out of it."

I think you are willfully ignoring the fact that acupuncture practitioners and other woo peddlers are taking an estimated 48 billion a year out of the pockets of the American people. This is not some small time business - they have trade associations that actively lobby all levels of government for favorable policies.

"The point is narrow mindness(sic) will cause US to lose out some of the proven traditional Eastern practices. "

It is not narrow-minded to insist on well planned studies with appropriately conservative conclusions and easily reproducible results. It's called science, and it's the only method of learning about the outside world that shows tangible results that we can all share in. Through this insistence, man has slowly struggled up from dark-age superstition, crafting the modern society whose fruits we so callously enjoy. To throw that out, to allow the post-modern condition to triumph, to reduce objectivity and reproducibility to 'closeminded' narratives of the past, is to invite a return to ignorance and slavery to superstition.

That is why I reject the gross mis-representation of this acupuncture study.

[Jonahson]

pt.1 Wow! 48 billion a year? If the facts are right then those Americans are suckers to pay out so much $ for a placebo! Isn't it a scam? Anyone of those conned should sue these acupuncturists and put them out of business. Better still you will do Americans a big favor by taking up advertising space to let people know acupuncture doesn't work.
As I mentioned look elsewhere for research done and get a wider perspective of things. In fact many countries have already done various researches on acupuncture and their hospitals include it as part of their medical treatment.
Research done in this country is call science because it is by way of scientific means so does researchers done by other countries it is no less scientific. Both are science but perhaps the method and scope of study differs. When you debunk the Russian research on acupuncture as unreliable source without finding out or knowing what it is about then you are being unscientific.

[Jonahson]

Pt.2
If they had found something and you have not then the onus is on you to find out why?
I am not here to champion acupuncture my wish is that people from the US especially those in pain and cannot afford medical insurance coverage have a better quality life from affordable treatment.
I am certainly not here to argue with you. Only that I know it works. You are certainly entitled to your opinion.

[AngieMom57]

It is amazing how the mass ignorance to the drug/pharmaceutical medical model has been so evidently pervasive in the minds of mostly meat eaters.

Just an observation, no disrespect intended.

Bio-feedback, acupuncture, chiropractic measures are non evasive; given a choice of $1000.00 worth of pain medication or $1000.00 worth of message, acupuncture or chiropractic treatments in the course of three months which would you chose?

[Paradym]

I'd choose the methods that have been shown to work, not waste my money on woo.

[wm1066]

"Doctor Wu do the voodoo you do so well"
Col. Potter on MASH telling the Korean doctor who was going to give Winchester acupunture to cure his back pain.

[Cyberoptic]

What is a placebo? THINK about that for a while, without the mind-numbing pre-established definitions.

Also consider EFT as a treatment for some conditions, no needles. The basics are sound, but some of the extensions appear a bit wacky.

http://www.emofree.com/

[Montreaux1991]

I just have to say it with this study: Well DUUUUUUUHHHH!!!! If it worked for the Chinese for how many thousands of years, why is it such a surprise that it works today, and in most cases BETTER than western medicine?

I've been using acu for the past 2 years and I've had little need of an MD since, other than my regular checkups.

[peterghansonmd]

As an MD I am delighted to see good studies on acupuncture. Our paradigm has been limited to treatments with drugs, injections, or surgeries. Alas, these can be risky, and certainly not universally effective. Acupuncture is not a placebo, it works on race horses and arthritic dogs, and we have certainly seen it work wonders in humans. It produces endorphine, and, like any morphine derivative, its effects are completely reversed by injecting nalorphine, the antidote. Western diagnostics are very helpful here, including MRI's, X-rays, and nerve conduction studies where needed.

Acupunture works best when the needles are placed with precision into the correct area of the spinal column. In particular, if there are deep muscle spasms, an electrocurrent between the tips will break up the knots, allowing the return of circulation, movement, and the freedom from pain. Once the intial acute pain is resolved (often after just one or two treatments), then we also can involve a chiropractor to assist with alignment issues, as often accompany back pain cases. Who says medicine can't be a team effort, and can't be effective without risks! To see how we treat pains in Denver, visit www.peterhansonmd.com.

[Paradym]

So, "Dr.", what is the mechanism of acupuncture? How is it that the results are the same if done by a practitioner or a lay person? How do you explain the results being the same no matter where the needles are placed? How is it that the results are the same even if there is no puncture of the skin, with just poking from a toothpick? What are the biomechanical mechanisms for acupuncture that have eluded research? How is it that we have instruments that can detect such minute flashes of energy as quarks but we cannot detect an energy claimed as so influential as "chi"?

Acupuncture is placebo, and therefore there is no physiological effect directly resulting from the treatment. You could just as well convince a patient that placing Lemonheads along the spine will reduce pain and get the same results.

[AngieMom57]

Think differentl­y...so much to learn, so little time grasshopper.

[Jonahson]

Check out the research done listed on this website.

http://www.acupuncture.com/newsletters/m_feb04/m_feb05/res.htm#2

[Thenewyorkdollley]

There's no surprise here - acupuncture works because it's a placebo. This study and others show clearly that the purported mechanisms of acupuncture have no physiological effect - when you use toothpicks to simulate acupuncture and get the same response in your patients you can pretty much throw chi energy and any physiological effect out the window together.

As always, the media credulously reports the findings of the woo masters without doing any critical analysis or speaking to any neutral physicians or scientists.

[Jonahson]

Try it out tne next time or maybe sometime in the future. Perhaps check out the medical universites and hospitals in China, make an indepth study why it is accepted by a larger part of the World. It is also practiced in Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Russia and Japan .
Check out this detail research from Russia:-
http://www.medicalacupuncture.org/aama_marf/journal/vol16_3/article2.html

It would be foolish to lump acupunture as a placebo and ignore the benefits that can be derived from its use. Check with other countries that had done researh on it.

[Thenewyorkdollley]

Something tells me that medicalacupuncture.org is not a neutral information source.

It is a highly effective placebo - the ritual surrounding it, along with the intrusive nature of the practice, make it so. The more intrusive a placebo, the larger the effect.

Check out this website: http://www.theness.com/neurologicablog/?p=535 for more information on these effects.

Simply put, if sham acupuncture has the same reported effect as real acupuncture you know purported mechanism are bogus - otherwise there should be a significant difference between two.

There is no denying that patients report improvements from acupuncture - just as they do sugar pills. If a pharmaceutical company were attempting to market a medicine with the same evidence of efficacy, we would all be justifiably outraged.

[AngieMom57]

Five thousand year "placebo" sez something; think different.

Placebo effects are studied in depth & the more that we understand the results of consciously directed brain frequency, or simplified "chi"; the more we will be able to take "healing our bodies" into our own hands.

"Doctor, heal thyself."

[Thenewyorkdollley]

The fact that something is 5000 years old is not evidence of its efficacy, legitimacy, or morality. Rape is significantly older than 5000 years, yet I'm not counting on it to relieve any back pain.

[AngieMom57]

It just takes a few minutes to let the Obama Administration that we are ready for a huge shift in medical coverage! Our government should be the first to approve choice of alternative medicine like acupuncture, herbs, chiropractic and Naturopathic doctors (NDs).

"..please consider sharing your personal story about the importance of health care reform in your life and the lives of those you love.

I will be personally reviewing many of these signatures and stories. If you speak up now, your voice will make a difference­."

http://my.barackobama.com/HealthCareOrganizing

[Jonahson]

It is certaintly better than pain killer where you can develop addiction. Acupunture treatment if it works has a more lasting result than drugs.