International Scientific Acupuncture and Meridian Symposium 2014

摘要

A growing amount of evidence shows that acupuncture is effective in the treatment of chronic low back pain. A recent meta-analysis showed effect sizes of 0.52 compared to sham acupuncture and effect sizes of 0.51 compared to no-acupuncture controls (Vickers et al., 2012). However, because chronic back pain is understood to be influenced by different bio-psycho-social factors, undoubtedly, this condition requires multimodal treatment to achieve long-term effects on pain, disability and quality of life (Waterschoot et al., 2014). The well-established Munich Outpatient Program in Complementary and Alternative Medicine (Mocam) has been shown to be effective for treating chronic pain. On the basis of this multimodal pain therapy program, a long-term project to treat chronic back pain in particular was designed (Mocam Back Pain) in cooperation with a major health insurer. Acupuncture combining Micro-system Acupuncture, Trigger-point Acupuncture (dry needling) and Traditional Chinese Acupuncture was applied as part of the multimodal treatment twice a week. A prospective open observational study with a two-year follow-up using an assortment of specific questionnaires to evaluate somatic factors as well as cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and social aspects important in chronic pain disease was performed. The results showed significant long-term effects on the large majority of variables. Acupuncture seems to play an important role in multimodal pain treatment.