The role of acupuncture in the treatment of chronic pain

Acupuncture is a practice based on traditional Chinese medicine, in which needles are used to restore the body's internal balance. Recently, there has been growing interest in the use of acupuncture for various pain conditions. Acupuncture's efficacy in five pain conditions—low back pain (...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Best practice & research. Clinical anaesthesiology 2020-09, Vol.34 (3), p.603-616
Main Authors: Patel, Megha, Urits, Ivan, Kaye, Alan D., Viswanath, Omar
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
abdominal pain
acupuncture
fibromyalgia
low back pain
migraine
neck pain
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Summary:Acupuncture is a practice based on traditional Chinese medicine, in which needles are used to restore the body's internal balance. Recently, there has been growing interest in the use of acupuncture for various pain conditions. Acupuncture's efficacy in five pain conditions—low back pain (LBP), migraines, fibromyalgia, neck pain, and abdominal pain—was evaluated in this evidence-based, comprehensive review. Based on the most recent evidence, migraine and fibromyalgia are two conditions with the most favorable outcomes after acupuncture. At the same time, abdominal pain has the least evidence for the use of acupuncture. Acupuncture is efficacious for reducing pain in patients with LBP, and for short-term pain relief for those with neck pain. Further research needs to be done to evaluate acupuncture's efficacy in these conditions, especially for abdominal pain, as many of the current studies have a risk of bias due to lack of blinding and small sample size.
ISSN:1521-6896
1532-169X
DOI:10.1016/j.bpa.2020.08.005