Insights & Discussion
Moderate-quality evidence revealed an association between acupressure and greater pain relief compared with physical therapy.
The systematic review and meta-analysis included 23 RCTs with 2400 participants with low back pain. Consistent with previous systematic reviews, moderate-quality evidence revealed an association between acupressure and greater pain relief compared with physical therapy.
Although rated as very-low to low, poor quality evidence suggested that acupressure, with or without combinative acupuncture therapy, contributed to a greater amelioration of pain and functional disability from low back pain compared with usual care, tuina massage, or acupuncture.
Trial sequential analysis results revealed that adequate studies supported the significance of the clinical response rate of acupressure, with or without combinative acupuncture therapy, compared to other treatments.
Discover Related Insights
Acupuncture, either used in isolation or as an adjunct to conventional therapy, provides short-term improvements in pain and function for chronic low back pain.
2015 Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine Acupuncture for Low Back Pain: An Overview of Systematic Reviews Liu L, Skinner M, McDonough S, Mabire L, Baxter GD.
Systematic Review Low Back Pain
Sixteen systematic reviews were appraised. Overall, the methodological quality was low and external validity weak. For acute LBP, evidence that acupuncture has a more favorable effect than sham acupuncture in relieving pain was inconsistent; it had a similar effect on improving function. For chronic LBP, evidence consistently demonstrated that acupuncture provides short-term clinically relevant benefits for pain relief and functional improvement compared with no treatment or acupuncture plus another conventional intervention.