Acupuncture and a wide range of pain conditions

For many years now research has been done into how acupuncture could possibly help a wide range of pain conditions, including carpal tunnel syndrome, post-operative dental pain, fibromyalgia, lower back pain, headache, myofacial pain, menstrual cramps, tennis elbow and ostearthritis.

It is a very difficult task to compare the research results on acupuncture from study to study and also to draw conclusions from the accumulated body of evidence collated. This is mainly due to the diversity of the techniques used in these studies, electrical vs manual for example, controls and comparison groups and the outcome measures.

One of the most complex factors in acupuncture research is choosing which controls to use for a particular clinical trial. The final decision depends upon whether the researchers wish to study a particular area of acupuncture, such as effects on the brain, or whether they want to determine if acupuncture is useful when compared to other types of care.

There are various examples of control groups, such as participants who don’t receive any acupuncture, those who receive simulated acupuncture, such as those that mimic the procedure like a placebo, and those who receive other treatments in addition to or instead of actual or simulated acupuncture.

Placebo is playing an emerging role in acupuncture research, in a 2009 systematic review that was taken of research on the pain relieving effects acupuncture had when compared to a placebo, or no acupuncture at all, was inconclusive. Although the reviewers did find a difference, albeit small, between acupuncture and the placebo, and a moderate difference between no acupuncture and placebo, the effect of the placebo vastly differed.

The overall conclusion was that the effect of acupuncture appeared to be unrelated to the specific type of placebo procedure that was used. All of the participants in the study received standard care, that typically consists of physical therapy and analgesic drugs.