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The following are the selected researches and their respective detailed summary and analysis , chosen from the literature review of Does Acupuncture Relieve People of Chronic Pain

In a research authored by Eric Manheimer , Adrian White , Biran Berman Kelly Forys and Edzard Ernst , entitled Meta-Analysis : Acupuncture for Low Back Pain , an assessment of acupuncture 's effectiveness for treating low back pain was made . The study aimed to summarize the results of published studies of acupuncture for treating low back pain Data were sourced through searches of several databases such as MEDLINE Cochrane

Central , EMBASE , AHMED , CINAHL , CISCOM and GERA through August 2004 , including previous reviews and personal contacts with colleagues (Manheimer , et .al , 2005 . Data were studied and assessed for the outcomes of pain , functional status , overall improvement , return to work and analgesic consumption (Manheimer , et .al , 2005 . The authors further claim , The meta-analysis of 33 randomized , controlled trials that compared acupuncture with sham , other active , or no treatment found evidence that acupuncture is more effective than sham or no treatment for patients with chronic low back pain . They further concluded that while acupuncture effectively relieves chronic back pain , no evidence suggests that acupuncture is more effective than other active therapies

Andrew J . Vickers , Rebecca W . Reese , Catherine E . Zollman , et .al authored Acupuncture for Chronic Headache in Primary Care : Large Pragmatic , Randomized Trial , which determines the effect of a policy of use acupuncture ' in patients with chronic headache , compared with a policy of avoid acupuncture . The setting of the study is in England and Whales , where 401 patients with chronic headache predominantly migraine , were randomly allocated to receive up to 12 acupuncture treatments over three months . The main outcome measures were headache score , SF-36 health status , and use of medication , which were assessed at the baseline , three and twelve months , where use of resources were assessed every three months (Vickers , et . al , 2004 According to the researchers , Headache score at 12 months , the primary end point , was lower in the acupuncture group (16 .2 , SD 13 .7 , n 161 , 43 reduction from baseline ) than in controls (22 .3 , SD 17 .0 , n 140 , 16 reduction from baseline . The adjusted difference between means is 4 .6 (95 confidence interval 2 .2 to 7 .0

0 .0002 . This result is robust to sensitivity analysis incorporating imputation for missing data Patients in the acupuncture group experienced the equivalent of 22 days of headache per year (8 to 38 . SF-36 data favored acupuncture , although differences reached significance only for physical role functioning energy , and change in health . Compared with controls , patients randomized to acupuncture used 15 less medication (P 0 .02 , made 25 fewer visits to general practitioners (P 0 .10 , and took 15 fewer days off sick (P 0 .2 ' They further conclude that acupuncture leads to persisting , clinically relevant benefits for primary care patients with chronic headache , particularly migraine , while recommending the expansion of NHS acupuncture services

In a research made by Jorge Vas , Camilla Mendez , Emilio Perea - Milla et...