The effectiveness of acupuncture in patients with low back pain

Abstract

The incidence of low back pain (LBP) has increased dramatically during the last 20 years. The usual management of LBP is conservative through pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatments. One of the non-pharmacologic treatments that are frequently used nowadays is acupuncture. Acupuncture is one of the oldest invasive healing techniques that were used worldwide, which aims to maintain the energy flow and function of the body and has therapeutic, cumulative and analgesic effects. A part of therapeutic acupuncture is electro-acupuncture, in which some of the points used in a treatment protocol are electrically stimulated. The purpose of this study was to review and assess the effects of acupuncture and electro-acupuncture in the management of LBP due to back related conditions. For this reason, a review of the current literature was conducted using the online databases PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct and PEDro and following the PRISMA guidelines. Article titles were searched by using the following keywords: acupuncture, dry needling and low back pain. Primary search on the online databases resulted in 1555 articles. Finally, 19 articles were included in this review. In conclusion, based on the results of different studies, acupuncture seems to be a safe and effective way of managing patients suffering from specific LBP.