November 15, 2006 – Acupuncture may prove useful for people with chronic pain, according to a major European study. In fact, pronounced or moderate relief from chronic pain was observed in three quarters of people who received acupuncture treatment.1.
The study participants who suffered from headaches appear to have benefited the most from this branch of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
In order to assess the effectiveness of acupuncture in a practical context, German and Swiss researchers analyzed the intervention reports of 8,727 certified practitioners who performed acupuncture treatments on 454,920 patients. They had suffered, for six months or more, from chronic pain associated with at least one of the following three ailments: headache, low back pain and osteoarthritis.
With an average of eight thirty-minute sessions per patient, general practitioners performed the majority of treatments, followed by orthopedists and interns. They reported a moderate positive effect in 54% of cases and around 22% for a pronounced effect.
People with chronic headaches had marked or moderate relief in a slightly higher proportion than the rest of the participants, at 78.7%. Eight out of ten participants were women.
Of note, the further training of some acupuncturists did not generate a superior therapeutic effect in patients.
This study is part of an evaluation of a temporary reimbursement program for acupuncture treatments set up by the German authorities. Program in which the ten leading German insurance companies participate.
New lighting
The German and Swiss researchers consider that their study sheds additional light on the gap between the reality of practice and the experimental environment of clinical trials.
They recognize, however, that the conclusions of their study are limited in part by the fact that several segments of the population are not represented. The clientele of participating insurance companies is in fact mainly made up of office workers.
The authors believe, however, that this fieldwork may pave the way for new regulations in Germany.
Around 40,000 certified therapists practice acupuncture in Germany. By comparison, Quebec has about 600 certified acupuncturists.
So far, the efficacy of acupuncture still elicits little consensus in the Western scientific community.2. On the one hand, several cohort studies and clinical trials have shown promising and even positive results for the relief of certain ailments. On the other hand, syntheses of studies report inconclusive data.
Marie france Coutu – PasseportSanté.net
1. Weidenhammer W, Streng A, et al. Acupuncture for chronic pain within the research program of 10 German Health Insurance Funds-Basic results from an observational study, Complementary Therapies in Medicine (2006), doi: 10.1016 / j.ctim.2006.09.005.
2. For more details, see our Acupuncture sheet.
