Huijuan Tan, Steve Tumilty, Cathy Chapple, Guangyi Huang, G David Baxter
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Chronic low back pain (cLBP) is a global health complaint. Acupuncture is an effective therapy for cLBP; however, evidence for an optimal acupuncture practice scheme is limited.
Objective: This study aimed to determine the feasibility of conducting a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to assess the effectiveness of two acupuncture regimes (sensitized-points acupuncture and routine integrative acupuncture package) for cLBP.
Methods: This was a two-arm, assessor-blind, randomized-controlled feasibility study. Thirty adult participants with cLBP were randomly assigned into two groups. Each group received 8 sessions of either sensitized-points acupuncture or routine integrative acupuncture package, respectively. Treatments were conducted twice per week. Outcomes were assessed at baseline (week 0), on a weekly basis for four weeks (week 1, 2, 3, 4), and follow-up (week 12). Student's t-tests, Mann-Whitney U tests, Fisher's exact tests, descriptive analyses, and power analyses were used for statistics.
Results: Participants were recruited over 10 weeks with a recruitment rate of 12 participants per month. The treatment plan in both groups was well accepted and tolerated. Besides, the study was characterized by low adverse event rates (8.0% in Group A, 11.7% in Group B), high completion of the outcome measures (97.8% in Group A, 94.3% in Group B), and high participant retention rate (100% in Group A, 93.8% in Group B). Furthermore, preliminary analyses showed that both regimes of acupuncture were potentially efficacious and safe.
Conclusions: Conducting a fully powered RCT to evaluate efficacy and safety of two acupuncture regimes in the management of cLBP is feasible.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Back and Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation is a journal whose main focus is to present relevant information about the interdisciplinary approach to musculoskeletal rehabilitation for clinicians who treat patients with back and musculoskeletal pain complaints. It will provide readers with both 1) a general fund of knowledge on the assessment and management of specific problems and 2) new information considered to be state-of-the-art in the field. The intended audience is multidisciplinary as well as multi-specialty.
In each issue clinicians can find information which they can use in their patient setting the very next day.