Efficacy and Safety of Acupuncture for Chronic Discogenic Sciatica, a Randomized Controlled Sham Acupuncture Trial

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture for discogenic sciatica. Design Single-center, parallel, randomized controlled sham acupuncture trial. Methods Twelve sessions of acupuncture or sham acupuncture at the same traditional acupoints over four weeks. The primary outcome was change from baseline in weekly mean leg pain, measured by the visual analog scale (VAS) over the four-week treatment period. The secondary outcomes were determined by the change from baseline in mean VAS scores for leg pain, VAS scores for low back pain, Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) scores, and 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) scores. Patients were followed for 28 weeks. Results Forty-six patients were enrolled in this study between June 2017 and January 2018, of which 23 were in the acupuncture group and 23 were in the sham acupuncture group. The between-group difference in weekly mean leg pain measured by the VAS over the four-week treatment period was –7.28 mm (95% confidence interval = –13.76 to –0.80, P = 0.029), which is larger than the minimum clinically important difference of 5 mm. The between-group differences in mean VAS scores for low back pain, ODI scores, and SF-36 scores were not significant in the study period (P > 0.05 for all). The proportion of acupuncture-related adverse events was 4.3%, and all adverse events were mild and transient. Conclusions Twelve sessions of acupuncture showed short-term clinical benefits in relieving the symptoms of leg pain for patients with chronic discogenic sciatica compared with sham acupuncture. Acupuncture is safe in treating chronic discogenic sciatica. Further studies with larger sample sizes, a longer treatment period, and long-term follow-up should be conducted to verify these results.

Efficacy of acupuncture for sciatica: study protocol for a randomized controlled pilot trial.

“…Two recent trials provided restricted evidence in favor of acupuncture but both were conducted in single center with small sample sizes [29,30]. Generalization of these study results might be limited.…”

The Management of Sciatica by Acupuncture: An Expert Consensus Using the Improved Delphi Survey

“…A single-center, parallel, randomized controlled trial involving 46 patients with sciatica pain for at least 12 weeks found that acupuncture was safer than sham acupuncture in treating chronic sciatica and had a curative effect in improving short-term pain. 22 Two systematic reviews (one included 12 RCTs, 1842 patients; another included 11 RCTs, 932 patients) showed that acupuncture might be more effective in treating sciatica than drug therapy in relieving leg pain. 23,24 Pain is the most common symptom of sciatica.…”

Acupuncture for lumbar disc herniation

“…[ 20 ] ACU stimulates blood circulation at corresponding acupoints thereby relieving pain, which is also the basis for ACU to treat pain caused by LDH. [ 21 ] From the current point of view, there are no sufficient evidence for ACU therapy of LDH as the relevant comprehensive research is still blank. The study aims to explore the potential relationship of treatment and safety between the effectiveness of ACU and LDH by conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis.…”