Back to Basics Chronic lower back pain - if you've got it, it's probably uncomfortable just to read those words. But new research reveals an effective way to treat this specific type of pain without medication. How do you feel about needles? If you're like me, needles are fine as long as they stay in the sewing kit. But stick them in my skin, all over my body? Yeah…no thanks. Or that was my attitude toward acupuncture before I decided to screw up my courage and give it a try to address some nagging neck and back pain. Acupuncture doesn't work for everyone, but I was one of the lucky ones - it significantly reduced my pain. And the needling procedure was a breeze, producing only a very mild sensation that was completely pain-free. But I'm just one case study. So let's look at the remarkable results of a trial that tested acupuncture on hundreds of patients with chronic lower back pain. STUDY PROFILE: - Researchers at several German medical facilities recruited more than 1,160 patients who had suffered from chronic lower back pain for at least eight years
- 387 subjects received acupuncture
- 387 subjects received sham acupuncture (needling points on the skin not associated with known acupuncture points)
- 388 subjects received conventional treatment, which combined exercise, physical therapy, and medication
- Successful response was determined by a 33 percent improvement based on a chronic pain grade scale, or a 12 percent improvement based on a back-specific functional ability scale
- After six months of treatment, 47 percent in the acupuncture group achieved successful response, compared to 44 percent in the sham acupuncture group and 27 percent in the conventional therapy group
This is the first back pain study to test acupuncture against sham acupuncture and conventional therapy in the same study, so the fact that sham acupuncture performed so well was a surprise because many previous studies have shown a clear difference between true and sham acupuncture. For instance, in a 2005 study reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine conducted a meta-analysis of more than 30 randomized, controlled trials that compared the effectiveness of acupuncture with sham acupuncture, or no additional treatments, or conventional therapies that treat lower back pain. Researchers found acupuncture to be "significantly more effective than sham treatment or no additional treatment." And acupuncture was found to be just as effective as conventional therapies in relieving chronic lower back pain. If you've got a pain in the back and would like to try acupuncture for yourself, it's important to locate an experienced and board-certified acupuncture practitioner. You can find a listing of certified acupuncturists on the web site for the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (nccaom.org). Using your Zip Code, you can easily search for practitioners in your area who have national board certification. Sources:
"German Acupuncture Trials (GERAC) for Chronic Low Back Pain" Archives of Internal Medicine, Vol. 167, No. 17, 9/24/07, archinte.ama-assn.org
"Meta-Analysis: Acupuncture for Low Back Pain" Annals of Internal Medicine, Vol. 142, No. 8, 4/19/05, annals.org | 
