BAcC responds to NICE guidelines re acupuncture for back pain on the NHS

26 May 2009

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

Traditional acupuncture has been used for over 2,000 years to alleviate back pain and British Acupuncture Council members have for many many years been successfully treating patients for this condition either in private practice or working within the NHS. In effect, 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.

Back pain affects more than 1.1 million people in the UK with 95% of patients suffering from lower back pain problems [1]. Recent research has shown that acupuncture treatment can be effective in treating back pain [2] and introducing acupuncture treatment on the NHS can be very beneficial for patients who are suffering from the one of the nation’s main reasons for work-related sickness absence [3].

[1] NHS
[2] Statistics provided from HTA Spotlight: Acupuncture for back pain
Research by the University of Regensburg has shown that acupuncture is one of the most effective therapies for back pain. The research published by Archives of Internal Medicine, showed that acupuncture can provide significantly more relief from lower back pain than conventional therapies. The Chinese needle treatment was 74% more likely to lead to a sustained reduction in pain or improved ability to function normally than physiotherapy, medication and advice on exercise.
[3] NHS

http://www.acupuncture.org.uk/public-research.html
http://www.acupuncture.org.uk/research-review-papers.html
http://www.acupuncture.org.uk/research-fact-sheets.html

World Health Organisation
http://www.who.int/medicinedocs/en/d/Js4926e/5.html

The Journal of Chinese Herbal Medicine
http://www.jcm.co.uk/research-archive