The effectiveness of acupuncture in non-specific chronic low back pain

Abstract

Non-specific low back pain is a common musculoskeletal disorder that has become a major health and economic problem (Hoy, et al., 2012). The pathophysiological causes of non-specific low back pain still remain unclear. At this point in time, there is still doubt about which intervention is the most effective at treating this condition (Musculoskeletal Health in Europe Report v5.0, 2012). Although some published studies are supporting the use of acupuncture as an alternative treatment modality for non-specific low back pain (Hutchinson, et al., 2012), many studies carried out prior 2006 reported that the specific effects of acupuncture were still unclear. Furthermore these studies reported that there were no significant differences between acupuncture and sham acupuncture, thus planting the idea that the effects of acupuncture could be a placebo effect. This was also the main reason why the European Guidelines for Management of Chronic Non-specific Low Back Pain did not accept acupuncture as the sole treatment intervention for chronic low back pain (Hildebrandt, et al., 2006). The aim of this literature review study is to provide an update on the evidence of the effectiveness of acupuncture based on randomised controlled trials that have been published from the year 2006 till 2016. Through the use of the HyDi search engine, made accessible through the University of Malta, sixteen randomised controlled trials that met the criteria of this study were selected. Through the analysis and comparison of the studies selected for this literature review, acupuncture has been proven to be significantly more effective than no treatment and usual care in reducing pain and improving function. Furthermore, superficial acupuncture, which was considered as the ideal sham acupuncture in past studies, has been criticised by many studies as an improper sham intervention that may have interfered with the past studies.