Treating Acute Low Back Pain with Acupuncture – an Rct Comparing The Effectiveness between Distal Acupoints and Local Acupoints

ObjectiveTo compare the efficacy of using “distal acupoints only” versus “local acupoints mainly combined with distal acupoints” on acute low back pain (ALBP).Methods/design102 eligible patients aged 18-65 years old with ALBP lasting less than 6 weeks will be randomized in a ratio of 1:1 to the distal acupoints only group (DPOG) and local acupoints mainly combined with distal acupoints group (LPMG). During a four-week treatment period, patients in DPOG will receive acupuncture of distal acupoints only: Houxi (SI 3) and Yaotongxue (EX-UE 7) twice a week, while LPMG will receive acupuncture of local acupoints mainly: Shenshu (BL 23) and Dachangshu (BL 25) combined with distal points Weizhong (BL 40), and the patients in both groups will be evaluated at every session of treatment and the followed up for 3 months. The primary outcome measure will be the change in low back pain intensity, assessed using Visual Analog Scores (VAS), before and after the treatment. The secondary outcome measure will be the evaluation of functional disability using the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI).ConclusionThe study showed DPOG seems to have a better efficacy than LPMG on ALBP, but RCTs of larger sample size is needed to prove the hypothesis.