A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine maintains that back pain sufferers who received acupuncture treatment or simulated acupuncture responded better and experienced less pain than those patients who were given conventional treatments alone.
Surprisingly both the patients who received actual needle-employed acupuncture and various simulated forms of acupuncture benefited, without regard to skin penetration or exact needle placement.
The researchers reported that there were few very effective medical remedies for chronic low back pain, and that they, therefore, were happy to discover that treatments that were similar to acupuncture were helpful – even though the benefit raised questions about just why acupuncture works.
Future studies are indicated.
Researchers: Daniel Cherkin, Ph.D., and associates, Group Health Center for Health Studies, Seattle, Washington.