Acupuncture and exercise may ease lower back pain

UK scientists have shown that patients with lower back pain may benefit from a combination of acupuncture and exercise.

Acupuncture is one of the most common forms of complementary therapy and many people use it to relieve pain, including patients with chronic back pain.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) recently issued a guideline recommending a course of acupuncture or supervised exercise classes for people with low back pain.

This recommendation is supported by the latest study from the University of Ulster, preliminary findings from which were presented at the North American Conference on Complementary and Integrative Medicine.

In particular, a certain form of the therapy called auricular acupuncture was found to be beneficial.

The technique involves placing small acupuncture needles in the ear and is based on the theory that there is a relationship between specific points on the ear and different parts of the body.

Researcher Dr Siobhan McCann revealed that the programme had “a range of psychological as well as physical benefits” and that many participants claimed it had a “huge” impact on their quality of life.

Professor Suzanne McDonough, another researcher from the university’s Schools of Health Sciences and Psychology, commented: “The main findings from this study are that a combined approach – acupuncture and supervised exercise classes – improves the management of low back pain more than exercise classes alone.”

The professor observed that the results are “very timely” given the recent guideline from NICE.

“However, more work needs to be done on how these treatments might be combined in large-scale studies in an NHS setting,” she added.

The Arthritis Research Campaign is currently funding a trial to investigate the possible benefits of yoga as a treatment for low back pain.