Acupuncture for lumbar disc herniation: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

March 6, 2018   |   Currents in Integrative Healthcare

Thirty RCTs involving 3503 participants were included in the study to evaluate evidence for the effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of lumbar disc herniation (LDH). Meta-analysis showed that acupuncture had a higher total effective rate than lumbar traction (RR=1.1, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.15; p<0.001), ibuprofen (RR=1.24, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.48; p=0.02), diclofenac sodium (RR=1.44, 95% CI 1.24 to 1.67; p<0.001) and meloxicam (RR=1.16, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.31; p=0.01). Acupuncture was also better than lumbar traction (SMD -1.33, 95% CI -1.82 to -0.84; p<0.001) and diclofenac sodium (SMD -1.36, 95% CI -2.59 to -0.13; p=0.03) in terms of visual analogue scale (VAS) scores, and better than lumbar traction (SMD 0.96, 95% CI 0.48 to 1.45; p=0.0001) with respect to Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) scores.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29496679