Groups TCM Psychological Intervention Research on Subthreshold Depression Population

Abstract

Purpose: This trial was performed to investigate the efficacy of laser acupuncture on pain alleviation in patients with low back pain. Methods:Thiswas a randomized, sham laser acupuncturecontrolled, double-blind trial. Fifty-six patientswere randomly assigned to either the laser acupuncture group (n=28) or the placebo laser acupuncture group (n=28). Participants in both group received three sessions of treatment within a week. 11 acupuncture points were selected in total: GV3, GV4, GV5 and bilateral BL23, BL24, BL25, GB30. Visual Analogue Scale for pain (VAS for pain), Pressure pain threshold (PPT), Patient Global Impression of Change (PGIC) and Euro-quality-of-life 5 dimension (EQ-5D, Korean version of EQ-5D) were used to evaluate the effect of laser acupuncture treatment on low back pain in this trial. Results: None of the outcomes revealed significant differences between groups. However, within the group changes, each laser acupuncture group and sham laser acupuncture group have shown with significant improvement between the baseline measurement and each point of assessment. Conclusion: Although there was no significant difference between both groups, laser acupuncture can provide effective pain treatment and can be considered as an alternative option for low back pain treatment. Long term intervention, large scale and rigorous methodology are required in further studies to determine the effect of laser acupuncture on pain alleviation in patients with low back pain. Contact: Jae-Young Shin, meelbbi@kiom.re.kr