The authors carried out experiments on 1,162 adults with an average age of 50 who suffered from chronic lower back pain.
Nearly 48 percent in a group who underwent between 10 and 15 treatments with traditional Chinese acupuncture reported at least one-third less pain and an improvement in functional ability, with lasting benefits. That compared to 27 percent of those reporting relief from drug and exercise therapy.
"Acupuncture gives physicians a promising and effective treatment option for chronic low back pain, with few adverse effects or contraindications," said Dr. Michael Haake, one of the study's co-authors in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
However, one third of the group also received the fake acupuncture, where needles were inserted, but were not placed in traditional acupuncture points on the body or were not manually moved and rotated.
Surprisingly 44 percent of them reported relief from their back pain. The number of patients is more than conventional therapy and only slightly fewer than traditional acupuncture.
The researchers are wondering whether pain relief in sham acupuncture came from the body's reactions to any thin needle pricks or, possibly, the placebo effect. Authors also believe that the method worked by changing the way the brain processes pain signals or by releasing natural painkillers in the body.
"The superiority of both forms of acupuncture suggests a common underlying mechanism that may act on pain generation, transmission of pain signals or processing of pain signals by the central nervous system and that is stronger than the action mechanism of conventional therapy," the authors said.
