Positive Health Online

Abstract

WHITE and colleagues, Complementary Medicine Research Unit, Mail Primary Medical Care, University of Southampton, Aldermoor Health Centre, Southampton, United Kingdom, pjw1@soton.ac.uk, have conducted a randomized controlled trial of acupuncture for chronic neck pain.

Background

The aim of this study was to compare acupuncture to a placebo as a treatment of chronic mechanical neck pain.

Methodology

124 patients who presented as outpatients with chronic mechanical neck pain were randomly assigned to receive, over 4 weeks, 8 treatments with acupuncture or with mock electrical stimulation of acupuncture points using a decommissioned electroacupuncture stimulation unit. All treatments were provided by one practitioner. The primary outcome was pain 1 week after treatment. Secondary outcomes were pain at other time points, score on the Neck Disability Index and the Short Form-36, and use of analgesic medications.

Results

Both groups improved statistically from baseline, and acupuncture and placebo had similar credibility. For the primary outcome (weeks 1 to 5), a statistically significant difference in pain VAS in favour of acupuncture (p = 0.01) was observed between the 2 study groups. However, this difference was not clinically significant because it demonstrated only a 12% difference between acupuncture and placebo. Secondary outcomes showed a similar pattern. Although the control was credible, it did not mimic the process of needling.

Conclusion

Acupuncture reduced neck pain and produced a statistically, but not clinically, significant effect compared with placebo.

References

White P, Lewith G, Prescott P, Conway J. Acupuncture versus placebo for the treatment of chronic mechanical neck pain: a randomized, controlled trial. Annals of Internal Medicine 141 (12): 911-919, Dec 21, 2004.