Therapeutic effect of acupuncture for chronic pain

The purpose of this report concerned with the activities of the acupuncture clinic at UAB during the past 2 years and 3 months, is to objectively assess the role of acupuncture in the treatment of various pain disorders for which conventional pain relieving methods had failed to yield satisfactory results. In carefully analyzing the data provided by the patients through completed questionnaires, an attempt was made to look at the results obtained as unbiased as possible and to determine whether it is justified to continue the acupuncture activities at UAB or terminate them. From the data presented it appears that acupuncture helped in more than 50 percent of the patients by either completely or partially controlling the suffering from painful disorders. Patients helped by acupuncture received 8.55 treatments on the average, while patients not helped by acupuncture only received 4.75 treatments. There is little difference between the male and female patients as to the response to acupuncture. However, we noticed that the younger the patient and the shorter the duration of their problems, the better the response. Patients who had not had surgery to treat the pain syndrome responded better than those who had previous surgery. Patients with backache who had previously had laminectomy showed better response to acupuncture than the patients who had spinal fusion. It appears that good general health plays an important role in favorably responding to acupuncture treatment. It is apparent from this survey that acupuncture may be a valuable extension of a conventional pain clinic and an alternative in patients who are desperate in their desire to get relief from pain which they failed to obtain from other methods.