FILE - This photo taken on August 7, 2017 shows a patient receiving acupuncture treatment at a hospital in Shenyang in China's northeastern Liaoning province. (Photo credit STR/AFP via Getty Images)
Older Americans who used acupuncture to treat chronic low back pain saw greater improvement in their physical function than those who stuck to medications and physical therapy, a new National Institutes of Health study found.
According to the NIH, chronic low back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide and affects more than a third of older adults in the United States. The study shows an urgent need for safe, effective, and non-addictive pain management approaches, researchers said.
How acupuncture helps low back pain
The clinical trial, called BackInAction, included 800 participants, with results based on self-reported pain assessments following treatment that either included or omitted acupuncture.
Researchers looked at whether manual acupuncture needling, which is covered by Medicare, could improve function and reduce pain for older adults with chronic or persistent low back pain.
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A third of participants who were in the acupuncture cohort received up to 15 acupuncture treatments over three months (standard acupuncture treatment), and another third received an additional six acupuncture treatments (maintenance sessions) over the following three months.
Researchers found that both groups who received acupuncture had greater reductions in pain disability than those who received usual medical care alone. The acupuncture-treated groups also had reduced pain intensity and greater physical function after six months as compared to participants who did not receive acupuncture. Researchers also reported that the older adults who got acupuncture treatment had less anxiety than those who got standard medical care.
What they're saying:
"Of the different treatments we have for chronic low back pain, most have a somewhat modest effect. They often reduce pain by about a third at best and can help people function better," lead author Lynn L. DeBar, Ph.D., Kaiser Permanente distinguished investigator, said in a statement. "Our clinical results suggest that acupuncture is working as well as many things that are more familiar to people. We found that the size of this effect, while modest, was positive and sustained."
What is acupuncture?
The backstory:
Acupuncture has its roots in traditional East Asian medicine, but it has gained popularity in the United States since the 1970s, the NIH says.
The treatment involves inserting fine needles into the skin at points that follow a prescribed anatomical grid.
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The NIH says acupuncture provides various benefits, including reduced discomfort from back, joint or neck pain. But few acupuncture studies have focused on older adults.
"What sets the BackInAction study apart is that it focused specifically on adults 65 years of age and older, and it was pragmatically designed," DeBar said. "We worked hard to involve adults in multiple regions of the country so that participant demographics were consistent with the U.S. census for older adults—and we worked with licensed acupuncturists in the community, who are most likely to deliver these services."
What's next:
Researchers say it would be beneficial to increase access to acupuncture, particularly by allowing acupuncture practitioners to bill Medicare directly.
"We saw very little in the way of adverse effects during the clinical trial," said co-lead researcher Andrea J. Cook, Ph.D., Kaiser Permanente senior biostatistics investigator. "Older adults often are dealing with other medical problems in addition to back pain. Acupuncture offers a less invasive option that has a better safety profile than a lot of the common treatments for back pain in older adults."
The Source: This report includes information from the National Institutes of Health.