Acupuncture for Chronic Low Back Pain †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Acupuncture for Chronic Low Back Pain. Answer: Acupuncture for Chronic Low Back Pain Recently, I have been having many patients suffering from chronic low back pain and some of them have not showed any improvement with the usual therapies. To this end, I want to find the best available evidence that will satisfactorily answer my evidence question: Is acupuncture a more effective intervention method than the usual therapies used to treat chronic low back pain? This evidence question is important because despite the fact that my patients undergo spinal manipulation therapy and structured exercises as intervention methods, there are no significant improvements in them. Chronic low back pain is a long-term condition characterized by lower back pain that goes on for more than three months, this lowers an individuals quality of life as it prevents them from executing their daily tasks especially those that involve a lot of bending. The condition affects 8 out of 10 people in their lifetime. This means that, the condition is a worldwide disease burden that causes global disability and adverse socioeconomic effects especially among the aged population (Vickers Linde, 2014).Some of the intervention methods used such as spinal manipulative therapy that includes massage, physical therapy and exercise only provide mild to moderate pain relief (May,2013). A meta-analysis conducted in 2013 revealed that the pain-relieving effects of spinal manipulation were minimal for people with chronic low back pain. Additionally, results from a 2011 randomized clinical trial showed that massage therapy has short-term benefits for the treatment of this condition and it on ly relieves pain for a short while (Kamper, Apeldoorn, Chiarotto, Smeets, Ostelo, Guzman Tulder, 2014). Acupuncture has widely gained popularity as an alternative therapy for the treatment of chronic low back pain. This intervention method unblocks and conducts the bodys energy through the main functional systems of the body (Xu, Yan, Yin, Gao, Han Lei, 2013). In most cases, acupuncture is usually a last resort to treat chronic low back pain and patients are often surprised at its effectiveness. Patients who do not get significant relief from the use of traditional treatment get promising findings from the use of acupuncture (Taylor, Pezzullo, Grant Bensoussan, 2014). Evidence has pointed towards acupuncture as a cost-effective and safe intervention method. According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), findings from several studies have shown that acupuncture may help in relieving chronic low back pain (Vollestad, 2014). Previous studies have found that clients who use acupuncture have notable differences in the severity of lower back pain experie nced as compared to those who do not (Lam, Galvin Curry, 2013). In summary, low back pain is prevalent especially among the elderly. Interventions like acupuncture aim to provide patient who suffer from this condition with some form of relief. Although acupuncture is effective, it is important to determine whether it is a holistic treatment or whether it needs to be used alongside other treatment methods. An evidence search is also required to determine whether acupuncture is a more effective intervention method than the other conventional therapies. References Kamper, S. J., Apeldoorn, A. T., Chiarotto, A., Smeets, R. J., Ostelo, R. W., Guzman, J., Tulder, M. W. (2014). Multidisciplinary biopsychosocial rehabilitation for chronic low back pain. The Cochrane Library. Lam, M., Galvin, R., Curry, P. (2013). Effectiveness of acupuncture for nonspecific chronic low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Spine 38(24), 2124-2138. May, S. (2013). Chronic low back pain. In Handbook of pain and palliative care (pp. 231-245). Springer New York. Taylor, P., Pezzullo, L., Grant, S. J., Bensoussan, A. (2014). Cost-effectiveness of Acupuncture for Chronic Nonspecific Low Back Pain. Pain practice, 14(7), 588-606. Vickers, A. J., Linde, K. (2014). Acupuncture for chronic low back pain. Jama, 311(9), 955-956. Vollestad, N. (2014). Chronic Low Back Pain. In Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research (pp. 903-904). Springer Netherlands. Xu, M., Yan, S., Yin, X., Gao, S., Han R., Lei, G. (2013). Acupuncture for chronic low back pain in long-term follow-up: a meta-analysis of 13 randomized controlled trials. The American Journal of Chinese Medicine, 41(01), 1-19.