Kajian Teknologi Kesehatan Atas Perbedaan Efek Analgesia dari Elektroakupunktur dengan Frekuensi Rendah, Kombinasi, dan Tinggi, pada Nyeri Punggung Bawah

摘要

Low back pain (LBP) was an important public health problem which ranked second after upper respiratory infectionin adults. WHO has recommended acupuncture for pain treatment. However, there was a lack of study that show the optimal frequency of electroacupuncture for pain treatment. This study aimed to determine the optimal frequency of electroacupuncture for the treatment of low back pain. This study was a double blind randomized controlled trial. A sampleof 40 subjects was selected at random of all (60) patients visiting the acupuncture clinic at Puskesmas Sragen Kota from September to Desember 2007. The subjects consist of 10 control subjects (paracetamol), 10 electroacupuncture subjects with low frequency (2Hz), 10 subjects with combined frequency (20/50Hz), and 10 subjects with high frequency (100Hz). The electroacupuncture was administered for 7 times. Pain was measured twice, before and after the treatment, using of McGill Pain Questionnaire. The data was analyzed with F test (ANOVA) and Post Hoc Test, which was run on SPSS v.15 program. Results of the study showed statistically significant different in the reduction of pain before and after the electroacupuncture treatment (F = 6.60; p = 0.001). There was a statistically significant different in pain reduction between control and low frequency (score difference -10.4; p = 0.032), control and combined frequency (score difference -1 2.1;p = 0.015), and control and high frequency as well (score difference -16.1; p = 0.004). Difference in the pain reduction was statistically non-significant between low and combined frequencies (score difference -1. 7; p = 0. 999), between combined and high frequencies (score difference -4.0; p = 0.928), between low and high frequencies as well (score difference -5. 7;p = 0. 726). This study concluded that the lowest frequency of electroacupuncture was the most optimal for pain reduction.Therefore, this study recommended the use of low frequency of 2 Hz for treating low back pain by electroacupuncture.