Back pain is the UK’s leading cause of disability, affecting an estimated 1.1 million people* in the UK, and one of the main reasons for work-related sickness absence. Many people will suffer from low back pain at some time in their lives. It can be caused by minor injuries such as muscle strains and sprains, pregnancy, stress or poor sleep. The good news for sufferers is that last year’s announcement by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Research (NICE) recommending acupuncture for low back pain, means that patients with persistent pain can now receive acupuncture treatment from a British Acupuncture Council registered acupuncturist on the NHS.

Two of the most common forms are osteoarthritis, widely believed to be caused by ‘wear and tear’ resulting in stiff joints and reduced movement; and rheumatoid arthritis, an auto-immune disease that can affect muscles and tendons as well as joints.Acupuncture can be effective in relieving pain and symptoms caused by various types of arthritis. It can help provide pain relief without the side effects associated with prescription drugs; reduce pain and stiffness helping to improve a sufferer’s range of movement and help boost energy levels. As a treatment, acupuncture can be easily implemented into a person’s routine and can form an effective part of an overall pain management plan.

Acupuncture can help Migraine by:

• Reducing the frequency and intensity of headaches in many patients

• Reducing the use of medication 

• Reducing the number of sick days taken 

• Showing a success rate of 50-80% comparable to the results of medication but without the side effects

• Offering an effective preventative treatment for migraine

  The results of a very large clinical trial (Vickers et al 2004)) in the UK as published in the BMJ Pain, score: 34% improvement in the acupuncture group versus 16% for standard medical treatment (significant difference). After receiving acupuncture patients had 22 fewer days of headache per year, made 25% fewer visits to the GP, and used 15% less medication.

Research by JC Butler et al (2005) was conducted on 55 patients suffering from stress-related emotional disorders. All patients were treated with acupuncture for the condition and the total effective rate for the reduction of symptoms in all 55 patients was 95.4%.

In Scotland research was conducted among hospice staff who were measured for stress using a psychological profile and then tested again following four acupuncture treatments. A 44% reduction in stress was recorded (2002)

Get that Good Gut Feeling! Research by The Journal of Gastroenterology. Vol. 41(5)(pp 408-417), 2006 states: The stimulatory effects of acupuncture on GI motility may be beneficial to patients with constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), who show delayed colonic transit. In contrast, the inhibitory effects of acupuncture on GI motility may be beneficial to patients with diarrhoea-predominant IBS, because enhanced colonic motility and accelerated colonic transit are reported in such patients.

A double blind study was conducted among women suffering from depression. The results found that acupuncture was significantly better in treating depression than either sham acupuncture or no treatment at all (1998, Allen et al).

A further study (2000) found that acupuncture gave signifcant clinical improvement to depression sufferers, especially good for treating anxiety symptoms (2000, Eich et al).

A 1998 study at University of Arizona showed that acupuncture can provide significant symptom relief at rates comparable to standard treatments such as psychotherapy or pharmacotherapy.

A 2004 study found that acupuncture was an effective treatment for depression during pregnancy(University of Stanford).

The British Acupuncture Council (BAcC) welcomes the preliminary results of a recent systematic review and meta-analysis of 7 trials, involving 1,336 women undergoing IVF. This study suggests that when acupuncture is given in conjunction with embryo transfer, it increases the chance of women becoming pregnant by 65%, in comparison to sham acupuncture or no additional treatment. What this means is that 10 women would need to be treated with acupuncture to bring about one additional pregnancy.

The British Acupuncture Council, the UK's largest professional body for the practice of acupuncture, fully supports NICE's (National Institute for Clinical Excellence) decision that acupuncture be made available on the NHS for chronic lower back pain. 

Therefore, these new guidelines are a rubber stamp of the positive work already being undertaken as well as an endorsement of the wealth of research evidence now available in this area.