Key result
Acupuncture yielded satisfactory indices in 47.6% of patients with chronic low back pain compared to 44.2% for simulated acupuncture and 27.4% for conventional treatment.
This opinion piece highlights the historical context and potential complementary role of acupuncture in Western medicine, while acknowledging the methodological challenges in proving its efficacy.
The two sciences complement each other.While one face of medicine evaluates and treats the diseased organ, the biochemical and molecular changes of the system in which it is inserted, the other one observes holistically, identify the disease according to the characteristics of the patient, as an individual, and his/her insertion in the environment in which lives, the emotion and life style is part of the diagnostic context.The nature of this science, the TCM, its history and origin still demand many studies, scientific and epidemiological work, for this reason, numerous systematic reviews were made with the purpose of comparing acupuncture as a complementary treatment method in the treatment of pain.
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Maria Lúcia SG Jorge (2017) conducted a review in Chronic low back pain (n=1,162). Acupuncture vs. Conventional treatment was evaluated on Satisfactory indices on the Von Korff chronic pain scale and Hanover functional ability questionnaire. Acupuncture yielded satisfactory indices in 47.6% of patients with chronic low back pain compared to 44.2% for simulated acupuncture and 27.4% for conventional treatment.
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