Back pain patients in major new acupuncture study
People in Hampshire and Dorset who are receiving acupuncture for their back pain are to take part in a major new study to find out why some patients get better pain relief than others.
Health psychologist Dr Felicity Bishop at the University of Southampton has been awarded a five-year fellowship of more than £300,000 from medical research charity the Arthritis Research Campaign to carry out the important new study which she hopes will improve the use of acupuncture for back pain.
Acupuncture is one of the most established forms of complementary therapy, and statistics from 2002 show that 12 per cent of people who used acupuncture were suffering from back pain.
Many GPs also believe the therapy can play an important part in providing pain relief; around 3,500 GPs use acupuncture themselves and two thirds believe it should be available on the NHS.
However, research is increasingly showing that so-called psycho-social factors also play a part in the effectiveness of acupuncture in relieving pain.
In the new study, Dr Bishop, a research fellow at the university’s Department of Primary Medical Care, will investigate whether factors other than the use of actual acupuncture needles play an important part in relieving pain.
For example, if a person believes in advance that acupuncture is going to work, and if they establish a rapport with the acupuncture practitioner, they may be more likely to benefit from the consultation than if they don’t believe that acupuncture works, and they don’t like the acupuncturist.
Through a series of questionnaires and in-depth interviews with up to 500 back pain patients, Dr Bishop plans to find out what they think about acupuncture before their first appointment, then follow their progress after the first acupuncture session, and three and six months later.
She will also produce a booklet outlining the benefits of acupuncture which will be given to patients before their first consultation - to find out if positive messages about the therapy have a direct effect on its effectiveness among certain patients.
“The results will suggest which patients are more likely to benefit from acupuncture, how psychological, social and clinical factors are related to outcomes, and how to improve outcome for patients,” explained Dr Bishop. “This project will also improve our general understanding of pain.
