Acupuncture relieves low back pain over long-term "Acupuncture can be effective in treating patients with low back pain and the benefits seem to improve with time, according to research published on Friday.
The ancient Chinese treatment, which involves inserting fine needles at specific meridians of the body, is a popular complementary therapy for a variety of ailments.
Hugh MacPherson and scientists at the University of York in England said the benefits of a short course of acupuncture were evident in their study of 241 back pain sufferers.
'If you offer acupuncture to someone with back pain on average it is expected you are likely to benefit, not just in the short term but particularly in the longer-term of 12 and especially 24 months,' he said in an interview.
'That's a remarkable finding in that normally you would expect the benefit of the treatment to wear off,' MacPherson added."
