Clinical trial NCT04423445: Laser Acupuncture and Acupressure for Low Back Pain
Official title: Laser Acupuncture Combined With Acupressure Improves Low Back Pain and Quality of Life: a Randomized Controlled Trial
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Low Back Pain
Keywords: Acupuncture
acupressure
low back pain
low-level laser
life dysfunction
hospital nurses
Lead sponsor: En Chu Kong Hospital
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2020-06-09
Enrollment: 76
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 20
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Brief summary: Background: Low back pain (LBP) is a common, huge health and socioeconomic health problem that affects physiological functions and reduces work efficiency in nurses.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of low-level laser acupuncture combined with acupressure (LAA) on pain intensity, pain interference and life dysfunction in hospital nurses with LBP.

Methods: This single-blinded randomized controlled trial enrolled a convenience sample of nurses from one teaching hospital. Seventy-six participants were randomly assigned to the LAA group (n=38) receiving low-level laser acupuncture and auricular acupressure for four weeks, and a control group (n=38) receiving a similar intervention but without laser energy and acupressure. Data were collected using the Short Form of the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI-SF) and Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (RDQ) at three time points: baseline before the intervention, and Week 2 and Week 4 during the intervention.

Detailed description: The enrollment criteria were age more than 20 years, low back pain with visual analogue scale (LBP_VAS) ≧3, no regular treatment for low back pain within six weeks, and willing to participate in this study. Exclusion criteria were open wounds on lower back, tumor on the back, ankylosing spondylitis, previous lumbar surgery, coagulopathy or bleeding tendency, or pregnancy.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* age more than 20 years, low back pain with visual analogue scale (LBP_VAS) ≧3
* no regular treatment for low back pain within six weeks
* willing to participate in this study

Exclusion Criteria:

* open wounds on lower back
* tumor on the back
* ankylosing spondylitis
* previous lumbar surgery
* coagulopathy or bleeding tendency
* pregnancy

Primary outcomes:
measure: pain intensity and interference
timeFrame: Data were collected using the Short Form of the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI-SF) : baseline before the intervention, and the change from pain intensity and interference at 1 month.
Secondary outcomes:
measure: life dysfunction
timeFrame: Data were collected using the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (RDQ) : baseline before the intervention, and the change from life dysfunction at 1 month.
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: New Taipei City
country: Taiwan
facility: En Chu Kong Hospital
Study officials:
affiliation: EN CHU HOSPITAL
name: Hsueh-Hua Yang, MASTER
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Yang HH, Chung YC, Szeto PP, Yeh ML, Lin JG. Laser acupuncture combined with auricular acupressure improves low-back pain and quality of life in nurses: A randomized controlled trial. J Integr Med. 2023 Jan;21(1):26-33. doi: 10.1016/j.joim.2022.10.004. Epub 2022 Oct 17.