Acupuncture for Lower Back Pain: A comperative overview

Acupuncture has become a popular alternative treatment for chronic pain, including lower back pain. This ancient practice involves inserting thin needles into specific points on the body to stimulate the body’s natural healing mechanisms. Acupuncture Medicine South Melbourne offers safe and evidence-based acupuncture treatments for patients with lower back pain. This article reviews the effectiveness of acupuncture in treating lower back pain based on several studies.

Three randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have shown promising results for using acupuncture to alleviate lower back pain. In a study by Haake et al. (2007), 1,162 patients with chronic lower back pain were randomly assigned to receive either traditional Chinese acupuncture, sham acupuncture, or conventional therapy. After six months, those who received traditional Chinese acupuncture had greater improvements in pain and functional ability than the other two groups. Another study by Cherkin et al. (2009) compared acupuncture to standard care and found that those who received acupuncture had greater improvement in pain and function after eight weeks. A third study by Yuan et al. (2015) compared electro-acupuncture with manual acupuncture and found that both were effective in reducing lower back pain, but electro-acupuncture may have a longer-lasting effect.

Additionally, two studies have compared traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) acupuncture to dry needling for treating lower back pain. In a study by Huang et al. (2011), 30 patients were randomly assigned to receive either TCM acupuncture or dry needling. After six weeks, both groups had significant improvements in pain, but the TCM acupuncture group had greater improvement in function. In another study by Kim et al. (2013), 30 patients were randomly assigned to receive either TCM acupuncture or dry needling. After four weeks, both groups had significant improvements in pain and function, but the TCM acupuncture group had a greater reduction in disability.

Acupuncture is an effective treatment option for lower back pain, according to several studies. Traditional Chinese acupuncture, electro-acupuncture, and dry needling have all shown promising results in reducing pain and improving function. Acupuncture Medicine South Melbourne performs safe and evidence-based acupuncture treatments for patients with lower back pain. Patients with chronic lower back pain are encouraged to talk to their medical doctors and consider acupuncture as a complementary treatment option.

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References:

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