Diagnosis and objective pain assessment of traditional Chinese medicine may be useful to demonstrate specific effects of acupuncture in low back pain: A prospective, randomized, controlled and single blinded pre-study
Item
Title
Diagnosis and objective pain assessment of traditional Chinese medicine may be useful to demonstrate specific effects of acupuncture in low back pain: A prospective, randomized, controlled and single blinded pre-study
Description
J Acupunct Tuina Sci (2013), Seca, Susana;Capelo, Paula;Efferth, Thomas;Alexander Doenitz, Christoph;Schroeder, Sven;Anjos, Ana;Machado, Jorge;Johannes Greten, Henry
Abstract
Objective—To prove specific effects of acupuncture on chronic pain. It was speculated that the potential specific effectiveness of acupuncture could be better shown in more properly designed studies. Therefore, diagnoses of both Western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) were used as inclusion criteria to allocate acupoints more precisely to the complaints of the patients. Secondly, objectively measurable parameters of pain relief in addition to usual Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) were chosen to quantify the effects of acupuncture. Methods—The study was prospective, randomized, controlled and single-blinded. Eighteen patients with chronic back pain and TCM diagnosis of a Taiyang/Yangming syndrome received one single session of acupuncture chosen according to TCM diagnosis or acupuncture on points outside the meridian system (controls). We evaluated pain via VAS and increased mobility via inclinometry of the back. Results—Although the sample size was small, there was a statistically significant improvement in pain and mobility in the intervention group (n=13), but not in the control group (n=5). The calculated sample size adequate power was lower for inclinometry than for VAS, indicating that VAS is less probable to discriminate acupuncture effects. Conclusion—Objectively measurable physical parameters such as the angle of flexion before and after acupuncture (inclinometry) may be more suitable to measure pain relief than subjective assessment by VAS in acupuncture studies. TCM diagnosis may be a helpful inclusion criterion in studies on acupuncture, so as to potentially allocate interventions better to the complaints of patients.
Alternative Title
J Acupunct Tuina Sci
Date
Language
English
issn
1672-3597
issue
3
page end
159
page start
155
volume
11