Dominik Irnich - Acupuncture for neck pain, results of an RCT

He began by reminding us that in the systematic review carried out by White and Ernst in 1999, the authors were unable to find sufficient evidence to support the efficacy of acupuncture for chronic neck pain. He then went on to discuss the results of some more recent trials including several carried out in his own department. In the first two trials acupuncture as compared to sham laser, a non penetrating sham procedure. In both of these trials there were positive hints for the usefulness of acupuncture. He then went on to talk about two other recent trials which acupuncture was compared to sham acupuncture in which the superiority of treating at recognised acupuncture points was not shown. However, in a third trial, real acupuncture was found to be superior to sham. Further trials included ear acupuncture and others in which acupuncture was compared with standard treatments such as physiotherapy. Dr Irnich then touched briefly on the controversial subject of placebo suggesting that this is a word that should perhaps be dropped from our vocabulary in the context of clinical trials. I am sure that this is a subject which will continue to be hotly debated. In conclusion, he suggested that it would appear that recent trials in chronic neck pain may be shifting towards a more positive result for acupuncture, time perhaps for another systematic review.

Extract from The Point reported by Dr Christine Bailey