REVIEW - Acupuncture for chronic pain in Japan

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Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2007 December; 4(4): 431–438.

Published online 2007 January 9. doi: 10.1093/ecam/nel092.

Acupuncture for Chronic Pain in Japan: A Review

Kazunori Itoh and Hiroshi Kitakoji

Department of Clinical Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Meiji University

of Oriental Medicine, Kyoto, Japan

Abstract

Many Japanese reports of acupuncture and moxibustion for chronic pain

are not listed in medical databases such as Medline. Therefore, they

are not easily accessible to researchers outside of Japan. To

complement existing reviews of acupuncture and moxibustion for chronic

pain and to provide more detailed discussion and analysis, we did a

literature search using 'Igaku Chuo Zasshi Wed' (Japana Centra Revuo

Medicina) and 'Citation Information by National Institute of

Information' covering the period 1978–2006. Original articles and case

reports of acupuncture and moxibustion treatment of chronic pain were

included. Animal studies, surveys, and news articles were excluded.

Two independent reviewers extracted data from located articles in a

pre-defined structured way, and assessed the likelihood of causality

in each case. We located 57 papers written in Japanese (20 full

papers, 37 case reports). Conditions examined were headache (12

trials), chronic low back pain (9 trials), rheumatoid arthritis (8

trials), temporomandibular dysfunction (8 trials), katakori (8 trials)

and others (12 trials). While 23 were described as clinical control

trials (CCTs), 11 employed a quasi-random method. Applying the 5-point

Jadad quality assessment scoring system, the mean score was 1.5 ± 1.3

(SD). Eleven (52%) of the CCTs were conducted to determine a more

effective procedure for acupuncture; these compared a certain type of

acupuncture with another type of acupuncture or specific additional

points. In particular, the trigger point acupuncture was widely used

to treat chronic low back pain in Japan. Many reports of chronic pain

treatment by acupuncture and moxibustion are listed in Japanese

databases. From the data, we conclude that there is limited evidence

that acupuncture is more effective than no treatment, and inconclusive

evidence that trigger point acupuncture is more effective than

placebo, sham acupuncture or standard care.

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Read the full article here:

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed & pubmedid=1822791\

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