Update as of May 2009: Acupuncture for back pain now available on the NHS

Low back pain is very common and affects one in three adults in the UK every year. It is estimated that 2.5 million people seek help for this condition from their GP. Often, the pain goes away after a short time but for some, the pain gets worse to become chronic and very debilitating.

In a recently issued guideline, NICE (the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) has said that anyone whose pain persists for more than six weeks and up to a year should be given a choice of several different treatments to try on the NHS. Together with their doctor, and in addition to conventional treatment such as painkillers, patients can decide to try up to 10 sessions of acupuncture over a 12 week period.

Professor Peter Littlejohns, the NICE Clinical and Public Health Director said: “This new NICE guideline means that for the first time we now have the means for a consistent national approach to managing low back pain.

“Importantly, patients whose pain is not improving should have access to a choice of different therapies including acupuncture, structured exercise and manual therapy.”

NHS Sponsored Research Finds Acupuncture to be More Effective in Reducing Back Pain Than Conventional Healthcare

In August 2005, an NHS Health Technology Assessment (HTA) monograph was published as a result of a study commisioned for the HTA Programme (Thomas et. al. HTA vol.9: no.32 (2005)). The objective of the study was to test whether patients with persistent non-specific back pain gained more long-term pain relief as a result of traditional acupuncture treatment when compared with conventional primary care.

A pragmatic, 2 parallel group, randomised controlled trial was designed, where patients were randomly assigned to either usual care from their general practitioner (GP) or treatment by an experienced traditional acupuncturist. 240 patients were referred from 39 GPs working in a total of 16 practices in York. Patients were aged between 18 and 65 years old, diagnosed with non-specific low back pain, and assessed as suitable for primary care management by their general practitioner.

Patients in the acupuncture group received 8 personalised acupuncture treatments on average, depending on the severity of their symptoms. Their personal perception of their back pain was monitored using a standard research questionnaire, and they were asked to fill this in at the start of the trial, after 3 months, 12 months and 24 months so as to monitor the long term effects of treatment.

The results were very positive. Acupuncture care was found to be significantly more effective in reducing bodily pain than usual care from their GP over the long term. When measured at the 24 month period, the acupuncture care group was significantly more likely to report 12 months pain free. In addition, they were significantly less likely to report the use of medication for pain relief.

This research is especially significant because results from the HTA programme directly influence key decision-making bodies such as the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and the National Screening Committee (NSC) who rely on HTA studies to help raise standards of care for the general public.

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