Back pain sufferers unable to find relief from physical therapy or pain medications may look to alternative therapies for a solution, particularly acupuncture. If you are considering acupuncture, you may want to consider the results of a new meta-analysis showing that the procedure may pose more risks than benefits. Researchers from the Universities of Exeter & Plymouth (Exeter, UK) and the Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine (Daejeon, South Korea) evaluated 56 acupuncture review papers with clear “Methods” sections defining how studies were chosen for review of acupuncture-associated pain relief and side effects. Reporting in the April 2011 issue of Pain, they found that the pain relief associated with acupuncture amounted to no more than a placebo effect, but with a significantly increased rate of adverse side effects, such as infection or trauma. An accompanying commentary by Harriet Hall, MD drives the point home:
ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross couldn’t agree more. “This seems like a fairly clear report: meta-analysis of numerous studies shows that the pain benefit from acupuncture is no greater than a placebo effect, while contributing significant numbers of unjustifiable side-effects and complications. So why do it?”
But these findings will most likely do nothing to convince those who embrace acupuncture as a religion, says ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. ACSH's Dr. Josh Bloom agrees, doubting he can convince those who swear by acupuncture. “My 'alternative medicine' friends will still swear that ‘with the first needle prick my back pain was gone!’ What are you going to do?”