The Effect of Acupuncture in Treating Chronic Low-back Pain

Chengdu PLA General Hospital

Status: Unknown

Conditions: Ankylosing Spondylitis; Low Back Pain

Treatments: Other: Yaotong points acupuncture; Other: standardized acupuncture; Other: the usual care

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02260284

2014LBP01

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficiency of acupuncture in treating chronic low-back pain

Full description

We want to know if the Yaotong points penetration or standardized acupuncture mode are more effective than medical care alone for CLBP; and if Yaotong points penetration is more effective than standardized acupuncture.

Enrollment: 160 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 50 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• with CLBP
• without taking any other medication for the treatment of CLBP in at least 2 last weeks;
• aged from 18 to 50 years;
• without conflict to the written, informed consent signed prior to the enrollment.

Exclusion criteria

• pathological causes of chronic back pain (such as fractures, cancer, spinal stenosis and infections);
• complicated back problems (such as scoliologic >40° curvature, chronic spondylitis, sciatica, prior back surgery and other medicolegal issues);
• with contraindications for acupuncture (e.g., cardiac pacemakers, coagulation disfunctions, being in pregnancy, seizure disorder);
• conditions making treatment difficult (e.g., paralysis, psychoses);
• conditions that might confound treatment effects or interpretation of results (e.g., severe fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, concurrent care from other providers);
• previous acupuncture treatment for any condition.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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160 participants in 3 patient groups

Yaotong points acupuncture

Experimental group

Description:

patients under the treatment of Yaotong ponts penetration mode

Treatment:

Other: Yaotong points acupuncture

standardized acupuncture

Active Comparator group

Description:

patients under the treatment of standardized acupuncture

Treatment:

Other: standardized acupuncture

the usual care

Other group

Description:

In the usual care group, participants received no study-related care-just the care, if any, that they and their physicians chose: mostly massage and physical therapy visits and continued use of medications (mostly nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS)).

Treatment:

Other: the usual care