Thu Mar 9, 2006 12:35 PM ET


http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?
type=healthNews&storyID=2006-03-
09T173523Z_01_COL963284_RTRUKOC_0_US-ACUPUNCTURE-
EFFECTIVE.xml&archived=False



NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Acupuncture improves lower back pain,
compared with no treatment, German researchers report. However,
they found that a minimal intervention consisting of superficial needle
placement at non-acupuncture points resulted in similar improvements.

Past studies have yielded inconclusive results concerning the
effectiveness of acupuncture to treat lower back pain. To further
investigate, a team lead by Dr. Benno Brinkhaus, from the Charite
University Medical Center in Berlin, evaluated nearly 300 patients in
what the researchers believe is the largest trial to assess the
effectiveness of acupuncture for lower back pain.

The patients were randomly assigned to "real" acupuncture
treatment, "sham," or "minimal" acupuncture, or no acupuncture
treatment. Real and minimal acupuncture consisted of 12 treatment
sessions over 8 weeks. All subjects completed a pain questionnaire at 8,
26 and 52 weeks.

The results, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, showed that
after 8 weeks of treatment, pain intensity had decreased by a mean
28.7 percent in the acupuncture group, 23.6 percent in the minimal
acupuncture group, and 6.9 percent in the control group.

At weeks 26 and 52, back pain was still reduced, with no significant
differences between the full-acupuncture and the minimal-acupuncture
group, the authors report.

Finally, the authors note that it is possible the selection of
acupuncturists influenced the results, and suggest that "the correct
location of needles plays only a limited role."

SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, February 27, 2006.