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Lower Back Pain is awful - most of us have had the experience of hurting our backs, or having a dull (or sharp) ache over weeks or months. But some people endure severe, stabbing back pain that stops them from being able to work.
Acupuncture might be a good first option in the treatment of back pain. If you're thinking of going to your doctor to get painkillers, trying seeing an acupuncturist first.
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* Study 1: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11783809 * Swedish hospital, 50 patients with an average pain duration of almost 10 years * Assessed after 1, 3, 6 months * A significant decrease in pain intensities occurred at 1 and 3 months in the acupuncture groups compared with the placebo group. There was a significant improvement in return to work, quality of sleep, and analgesic intake in subjects treated with acupuncture.
* Study 2: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23336503 * Overall, 2678 patients were identified from thirteen randomized controlled trials. The meta-analysis was performed by a random model (Cohen's test), using the I-square test for heterogeneity and Begg's test to assess for publication bias. Clinical outcomes were evaluated by pain intensity, disability, spinal flexion, and quality of life. Compared with no treatment, acupuncture achieved better outcomes in terms of pain relief, disability recovery and better quality of life, but these effects were not observed when compared to sham acupuncture
* Study 3: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23269281 * A total of 11 randomized-controlled trials (n=1139) were included. Compared with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, acupuncture may more effectively improve symptoms of acute LBP (5 studies; risk ratio, 1.11; 95% confidence interval: 1.06, 1.16). For pain, there exists inconsistent evidence that acupuncture is more effective than medication. Compared with sham acupuncture, acupuncture may more effectively relieve pain (2 studies; mean difference, -9.38; 95% confidence interval: -17.00, -1.76) but not function/disability. Acupuncture appears to be associated with few side effects but the evidence is limited.
* Study 4: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14600536 * 46 Patients completed the 6 month trial and found that the response was better in the acupuncture group versus placebo nerve stimulation
* Study 5: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17237661 * A total of 2564 patients (mean age 57.7+/-14.0 y, 78.7% female), who were treated by 1607 physicians, were included in the main analysis. After 6 months (6-mo follow-up), 45.5% of patients demonstrated clinically significant improvements in their functional ability scores. The mean number of days with pain was decreased by half (from 21 to 10 d/mo)
All right so maybe your back has been killing you or maybe you even threw it out and you're
sitting in bed for a couple days. Well what do you do now? You might have heard that acupuncture
can help you with pain, specifically back pain, but what does the western medical research actually
say on using acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine for back pain? Well that's what we're
talking about in this video here. Hey guys I'm Alex Hein, a current doctoral student in traditional
or classical Chinese medicine. Now in this video I want to share a little bit about the western
biomedical research on using acupuncture for back pain and highlighting a couple studies if you've
been curious about whether or not to see an acupuncturist for your pain. Now the very first
study done in a Swedish hospital had 50 patients and they had an average pain duration of almost
10 years. Now they were assessed after one, three, and six months when doing acupuncture. Now the
results were that a significant decrease in pain occurred at the first and the third month in the
acupuncture group compared with the placebo group and there was a significant improvement in the
return to work, quality of sleep, and just the overall pain relief. Now in this second study
over 2,678 patients were used in a much larger study this time. Now these patients were taken
from 13 randomized controlled trials and the clinical outcomes were evaluated by how long they
had the pain, level of disability, spinal flexion, and the quality of life. Now compared to no
treatment, acupuncture achieved better outcomes in terms of pain relief, disability recovery, and
better quality of life. This third meta-analysis here looked at 11 randomized controlled trials
so there were a total of 1139 patients. Now compared with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory
drugs, acupuncture was more effective for acute low back pain. Now also in this study it was
compared versus a sham, so sham acupuncture, and in this study they also concluded that acupuncture
may effectively relieve pain. Now compared with sham, acupuncture may more effectively relieve pain
and it was associated with very few side effects. Now in another study done over a six-month period
of time, the sample size of 46 patients after completing this trial found that the response
was better in the acupuncture group versus placebo nerve stimulation. So the control in this
case was a nerve stimulation that was supposedly comparable to the feeling of acupuncture. Now in
this last meta-analysis of studies where there was over 2,564 patients who were treated by over
1,600 physicians were included in this analysis. Now after six months, 45% of patients demonstrated
clinically significant improvements in their functional ability scores and the average number
of days with pain was decreased by half. So from 21 days per month to around 10 days per month. So
again if you were considering getting acupuncture treatment for your back pain, it may make more
sense than for example going to your doctor to get painkillers if especially you've already been
trying that before. In addition, the fact is there are very few side effects linked to acupuncture
properly done by a trained practitioner. There are very few side effects, it can be done regularly
without harm and many people get pain relief within that very first hour and sometimes even
within the first very few minutes of just putting the acupuncture needles in. So if this is something
you've been wondering about, seems a little bit hocus pocusy, it may be worth giving it a try. So
I hope that helps. Now in future articles and videos here we're going to be covering acupuncture
in Chinese medicine for very specific medical conditions, how it can help, and in addition I
want to share a couple case studies about people that have actually used it who were skeptical
beforehand and they weren't sure if it would work. But for now the best way to stay in touch is to
come over to my site alexhein.com, grab that guide for free which is on five daily rituals to help
you add 10 years to your life from traditional Chinese medicine. Again that is completely free
on my site and otherwise click that monk to subscribe and you can watch the last video right there.
