Acupuncture gives short term relief in chronic neck pain

Compared with sham laser acupuncture and massage, needle acupuncture has beneficial effects on mobility and pain related to motion in patients with neck pain. Irnich and colleagues (p 1574) randomly allocated 177 patients with chronic neck pain to receive five treatments over three weeks of acupuncture, sham laser acupuncture, or massage. One week after the five treatments the acupuncture group showed significantly greater improvement in motion related pain, but three months after treatment the difference was comparatively small and no longer significant. However, acupuncture was the best treatment for patients with myofacial syndrome and those who had pain for more than five years.

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Randomised trial of acupuncture compared with conventional massage and "sham" laser acupuncture for treatment of chronic neck pain • Commentary: Controls for acupuncturecan we finally see the light?

Dominik Irnich, Nicolas Behrens, Holger Molzen, Achim König, Jochen Gleditsch, Martin Krauss, Malte Natalis, Edward Senn, Antje Beyer, Peter Schöps, and Mike Cummings
BMJ 2001 322: 1574. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]