Acupuncture moderately effective for neck pain

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - There is a fair amount of evidence that acupuncture can relieve chronic neck pain, according to a review of the most current scientific evidence on the effectiveness of acupuncture for neck pain.

It's estimated that between 26 percent and 71 percent of the adult population has suffered through at least one bout of neck pain or stiffness during their lifetime. For some, neck pain can last for months and negatively impact life and work.

Treatments for chronic neck pain vary, as do the perceptions of benefits. Acupuncture, which has been used as an alternative to more traditional treatments for neck pain, seems to work moderately well, Canadian researchers report in the latest issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates research in health care.

The finding is based on a review of 10 trials that compared real acupuncture to fake acupuncture, other sham or inactive treatments, or other active treatments such as massage therapy. The trials involved a total of 661 individuals with chronic neck pain lasting for at least three months.

Dr. Kien Trinh from McMaster University in Hamilton and colleagues found that, overall, people who received traditional Chinese acupuncture reported, on average, better pain relief immediately following acupuncture and in the short-term than those who received inactive acupuncture or other sham treatments.

In one small study, people who received acupuncture had greater relief of pain than those who received massage therapy.

"Ideally," according to the data, "there should be at least six or more acupuncture sessions." There were no serious side effects to acupuncture in the trials reviewed.

"What we need now," Trinh said in a statement, "are some trials that include greater numbers of people and look at the long-term effect of (acupuncture)."

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SOURCE: The Cochrane Library, Issue 3, 2006.