Acupuncture and dry-needling for low back pain.

BACKGROUND: Although low-back pain is usually a self-limiting and benign disease that tends to improve spontaneously over time, a large variety of therapeutic interventions are available for its treatment. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects of acupuncture for the treatment of non-specific low-back pain and dry-needling for myofascial pain syndrome in the low-back region. SEARCH STRATEGY: We updated the searches from 1996 to February 2003 in CENTRAL, MEDLINE, and EMBASE. We also searched the Chinese Cochrane Centre database of clinical trials and Japanese databases to February 2003. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomized trials of acupuncture (that involves needling) for adults with non-specific (sub)acute or chronic low-back pain, or dry-needling for myofascial pain syndrome in the low-back region. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two reviewers independently assessed methodological quality (using the criteria recommended by the Cochrane Back Review Group) and extracted data. The trials were combined using meta-analyses methods or levels of evidence when the data reported did not allow statistical pooling. MAIN RESULTS: Thirty-five RCTs were included; 20 were published in English, seven in Japanese, five in Chinese and one each in Norwegian, Polish and German. There were only three trials of acupuncture for acute low-back pain. They did not justify firm conclusions, because of small sample sizes and low methodological quality of the studies. For chronic low-back pain there is evidence of pain relief and functional improvement for acupuncture, compared to no treatment or sham therapy. These effects were only observed immediately after the end of the sessions and at short-term follow-up. There is evidence that acupuncture, added to other conventional therapies, relieves pain and improves function better than the conventional therapies alone. However, effects are only small. Dry-needling appears to be a useful adjunct to other therapies for chronic low-back pain. No clear recommendations could be made about the most effective acupuncture technique. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: The data do not allow firm conclusions about the effectiveness of acupuncture for acute low-back pain. For chronic low-back pain, acupuncture is more effective for pain relief and functional improvement than no treatment or sham treatment immediately after treatment and in the short-term only. Acupuncture is not more effective than other conventional and "alternative" treatments. The data suggest that acupuncture and dry-needling may be useful adjuncts to other therapies for chronic low-back pain. Because most of the studies were of lower methodological quality, there certainly is a further need for higher quality trials in this area.

Popularity of complementary and alternative medicine in Japan: a telephone survey.

OBJECTIVE: To obtain information on the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in Japan. DESIGN: Nationwide, random-sampled and population-weighted telephone survey. METHODS: The survey was conducted by a telephone survey company in April 2001. The sample size of respondents was 1000. Using a region-, gender- and age-weighted sampling table, professional operators called respondents with random-digit dialling. Respondents were asked questions about their use of CAM in the past 12 months, out-of-pocket expenditures on CAM and orthodox Western medicine, reasons for the use of CAM and so on, as well as general socio-demographics. RESULTS: The percentage of respondents who had used at least one CAM therapy in the past 12 months was greater than those who had used orthodox Western medicine (76.0% (95% CI: 73.4-78.6) vs 65.6% (95% CI: 62.7-68.5). The percentage of use for each CAM therapy was as follows: nutritional and tonic drinks (43.1%), dietary supplements (43.1%), health-related appliances (21.5%), herbs or over-the-counter Kampo (17.2%), massage or acupressure (14.8%), ethical Kampo (Kampo prescribed by medical doctors) (10.0%), aromatherapy (9.3%), chiropractic or osteopathy (7.1%), acupuncture and moxibustion (6.7%), homeopathy (0.3%), and other therapies (6.5%). Regarding the reasons for the use of CAM, 60.4% responded that 'the condition was not serious enough to warrant orthodox Western medicine', and 49.3% were 'expecting health promotion or disease prevention'. Average annual out-of-pocket expenditures of all the 1000 respondents for CAM were half as much as those for orthodox Western medicine (19,080 yen (95% CI: 15,824-22,336) vs 38,360 yen (95% CI: 30,439-46,280)). CONCLUSIONS: CAM is very popular in Japan and the expenditures for them are not negligible, although there is still an overwhelming dominance of orthodox Western medicine with regard to cost, variety of indications, and severity of conditions.

Systematic review of adverse events following acupuncture: the Japanese literature.

CONTEXT: Many Japanese cases of adverse events after acupuncture are not listed in medical databases such as Medline. Therefore, they are not easily accessible to researchers outside Japan. OBJECTIVE: To complement existing reviews of adverse events after acupuncture in the West and to provide more detailed discussion and analysis. DATA SOURCES: Literature search using 'Igaku Chuo Zasshi (Japana Centra Revuo Medicina) CD-ROM version' covering the period of 1987-1999. STUDY SELECTION: Case reports of adverse events, which were suspected to be due to acupuncture treatment, were included. Experimental studies, surveys, and news articles were excluded. DATA EXTRACTION: Two independent reviewers extracted data from located articles in a pre-defined structured way, and assessed likelihood of causality in each individual case. DATA SYNTHESIS: 89 articles which reported 124 cases were located. The most frequent adverse events were: pneumothorax (25 cases), spinal cord injury (18 cases), acute hepatitis B (11 cases), and localized argyria (10 cases). There were two fatalities from infections. Forty-eight events were caused by needle breakage including 26 cases of intentionally embedded needle and 16 cases of accidental breakage. There were also 10 cases of injury from self-treatment. CONCLUSION: Although it has already been demonstrated that severe adverse events seem to be uncommon in standard practice, many serious cases of negligence have been found in the present review, suggesting that training system for acupuncturists (including medical doctors) should be improved and that unsupervised self-treatment should be discouraged.

Incidence of adverse reactions associated with acupuncture.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the type, severity, and incidence of acupuncture adverse reactions that are observed in standard practice. DESIGN: A survey based on observation and interview by the therapists. SETTING: Tsukuba College of Technology Clinic in Japan. SUBJECTS: All patients who underwent acupuncture treatment during a period of 4 months from April to July 1998. OUTCOME MEASURES: Type, severity, and incidence of acupuncture adverse reactions. RESULTS: A total of 391 patients were treated in 1,441 sessions, involving a total of 30,338 needle insertions. The incidence of recorded systemic reactions in individual patients was: tiredness (8.2%); drowsiness (2.8%); aggravation of preexisting symptoms (2.8%); itching in the punctured regions (1.0%); dizziness or vertigo (0.8%); feeling of faintness or nausea during treatment (0.8%); headache (0.5%); and chest pain (0.3%). The incidence of recorded local reactions, expressed as a percentage of needle insertions, was: minor bleeding on withdrawal of the needle (2.6%); pain on insertion of the needle (0.7%); petechia or ecchymosis (0.3%); pain or ache in the punctured region after the treatment (0.1%); subcutaneous haematoma (0.1%); and pain or discomfort in the punctured region during the needle retention (0.03%). CONCLUSION: Although some adverse reactions associated with acupuncture were common even in standard practice, they were transient and mild compared to cases such as pneumothorax, cardiac injury, infection, or spinal lesions reported in other studies.

Adverse events in acupuncture and moxibustion treatment: a six-year survey at a national clinic in Japan.

OBJECTIVES: Many of the frequently reported adverse effects of acupuncture are serious or severe such as pneumothorax, infection, spinal cord injury, or cardiac injury. However, reviewing published case reports does not provide enough information to assess the safety of acupuncture and moxibustion. In order to investigate adverse events of acupuncture, we reviewed all the relevant cases reported by the therapists at our clinic. SETTING: Over a 6 year period, in the national Tsukuba College of Technology Clinic in Japan, all the acupuncture and moxibustion therapists were required to report the cases of adverse events immediately upon recognition. RESULTS: A total of 84 therapists (13 preceptors and 71 interns) participated in the treatments. The total number of treatments was 65,482. Ninety four (0.14%) adverse events were reported. There were fourteen categories: failure to remove needles (27 cases), ecchymosis or hematoma without pain (9 cases), ecchymosis or hematoma accompanied by pain (8 cases), burn injury (7 cases), discomfort (7 cases), dizziness (6 cases), nausea or vomiting (6 cases), pain in the punctured region (6 cases), minor hemorrhage (4 cases), aggravation of complaint (4 cases), malaise (3 cases), suspected contact dermatitis (3 cases), fever (3 cases) and numbness in the upper extremities (1 case). CONCLUSION: No serious or severe cases such as pneumothorax, infection, or spinal cord injury were reported by the college preceptors and interns. The results indicate that serious or severe adverse events are rare in standard practice. We suggest that most severe or serious cases of adverse events caused by acupuncture reported in journals are actually cases of negligence. In the future, negligence should be discussed from the point of view of medical education and technical instruction for the therapists, and adverse reactions should be discussed from the point of view of incidence and prevention based on the result of further investigation.