In April 2010 a new guideline was issued on the treatment of chronic pain: Practice Guidelines for Chronic Pain Management: An Updated Report by the American Society of Anesthesiologists Task Force on Chronic Pain Management and the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine. 

In this guideline anesthesiologists of name and fame gathered and analysed all approaches to chronic pain. For acupuncture their assessment was:  

Acupuncture techniques include traditional acupuncture as well as electroacupuncture techniques.

Meta-analytic findings from randomized controlled trials comparing traditional acupuncture techniques with sham acupuncture are equivocal regarding the efficacy of acupuncture techniques in providing pain relief for patients with low back pain (Category C1 evidence).

One randomized controlled trial comparing traditional acupuncture with conventional therapy (i.e., drugs, physical therapy, and exercise) is equivocal (P > 0.01) regarding the efficacy of acupuncture at a 6-month follow-up evaluation (Category C2 evidence).

A randomized controlled trial comparing electroacupuncture with conventional acupuncture is equivocal (P > 0.01) regarding pain relief for patients with low back pain (Category C2 evidence).

Studies with observational findings indicate that acupuncture can provide pain relief for assessment periods of 1 week to 6 months (Category B2 evidence).

ASA and ASRA members agree and consultants are equivocal with regard to whether acupuncture should be used for nonspecific, noninflammatory low back pain.

The final recommendation was the following: 

Recommendations for acupuncture

Acupuncture may be considered as an adjuvant to conventional therapy (e.g., drugs, physical therapy, and exercise) in the treatment of nonspecific, noninflammatory low back pain.

April 2010, Jan M. Keppel Hesselink, MD, PhD

Soure: Anesthesiology 112(4) April 2010 ≫ Practice Guidelines for Chronic Pain Management: An Updated Report by the American Society of Anesthesiologists Task Force on Chronic Pain Management and the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine*.