Acupressure beats physical therapy for back pain

Acupressure is better at alleviating the pain and disability of lower back pain than conventional physical therapy. Acupressure is a traditional Chinese therapy that uses the same principle as acupuncture, but involves the application of pressure, rather than puncturing the skin with needles. Previous research, though suggesting that acupressure is effective for back pain, failed to use validated standard outcome measures or to take into account functional status and disability. Researchers from the National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan, recruited 129 patients who had lower back pain for more than 4 months. Sixty-four patients were randomly assigned to acupressure and 65 to physical therapy, which included such measures as manual pelvic traction, spinal manipulation, and exercise therapy. Each subject received six sessions of treatment within 1 month. Persons conducting the post-treatment assessments were unaware of which intervention the subjects received. Disability questionnaire scores showed significantly more improvement in the acupressure group at the end of treatment, which were maintained at 6-month follow-up. The patients treated with acupressure also reported greater improvement in leg pain, pain that interfered with normal work, and days off from work or school. The results provide a base for comparison across international studies.