Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2003 Sep; 84(9): E25.

Acupuncture for treatment of chronic pain referred to rehabilitation clinic: Perspectives in a municipal hospital setting. Shalabh K. Gupta, MD (Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine/NYU Medical Center, New York, NY); Alex Moroz, MD; Veronika Schoeb, MHA; Izumi N. Cabrera, MA; Roy Amazalorso, OMD; Mathew H. M. Lee, MD, MPH, e-mail: skg208@nyu.edu.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the outcome of acupuncture treatment for patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP) and to measure clinical improvement and any predictors of patients' compliance. Design: Prospective study. Setting: A tertiary care municipal hospital affiliated with a major university hospital. Participants: 32 patients (63% women; age range, 36-86y) were included and had an average duration of pain of >5 years (range, 6mo-22y). All were referred to the acupuncture clinic from August 2000 to August 2001. Interventions: Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures: Pain was documented on scale of 0 to 10 and quality of life was documented using a scale. Sociodemographic variables, medical history, pain duration, and prior treatment were also documented. Patients were interviewed after 10 acupuncture sessions and if they dropped out before the completion, the reasons were documented. Results: 13 of 32 participants (41%) completed 10 acupuncture sessions and 19% (6/32) reported significant improvement on pain scale (>5 points on the scale of 10), while 13% (4/32) reported status quo and 9% (3/32) reported that acupuncture did not help at all. 6 patients (19%) did not complete 10 sessions. They did not follow-up on their appointments and had incomplete locator information, and/or had change of phone numbers or loss of appointment cards. Conclusion: Acupuncture can help some patients with CLBP, but these patients (an underserved population in an inner-city municipal hospital) also poses a unique challenge in providing services. Further studies are indicated to assess outcomes in pain control and finding correlations among (1) a close relationship between patients and health care providers, (2) follow-up calls, and (3) home visits and pain control using acupuncture.