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27/05/2009
NHS Recommends Acupuncture For Patients With Chronic Back Pain
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has recommended, for the first time, complementary therapies to treat chronic back pain on the NHS.
According to the Institute, people with lower backache should be prescribed a course of acupuncture, exercise classes or some form of manual therapy such as massage if they suffer from a non-specific lower back pain - which means that their symptoms persist for at least six weeks, but less than a year.
Some 2.6 million people visit their GP suffering from backache. It affects around one in three adults each year and is the cause of one in every six days off work.
According to the guidance, X-rays, ultrasounds and MRI scans should not be used to investigate causes of back pain except in certain circumstances.
Experts that have doubts about the effectiveness of complementary therapies have criticised the guidance, saying evidence showed these therapies were no more effective than a placebo.
Edzard Ernst, from the Department of Complementary Medicine at Peninsula Medical School, said that the watchdogs' advice has "overestimated the benefit and underestimated the risks of chiropractic spinal manipulation."
However, Professor Steve Field, Chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, has welcomed the guidance.
He thinks that there is a clear evidence for the effectiveness of these complementary therapies.
Peter Littlejohns, the Institute's Clinical and Public Health Director, believes that beneficial effect of the therapies is "sufficiently robust" to recommend them over less cost-effective procedures such as X-rays or injections into the spine.
"The evidence still shows that on balance patients do better," he added.
The NICE said that providing these treatments to patients in England and Wales may save the NHS money in the long term.
The cost of the implementation of the guidance will be £77,000 a year. NICE said that this amount is in part owing to savings that could be made by dropping tests and treatments that have no proven clinical benefit.
It is still unclear when patients will be able to access the treatments on the NHS and if it will pay for patients to visit private practitioners for treatment.
(AC/JM)
According to the Institute, people with lower backache should be prescribed a course of acupuncture, exercise classes or some form of manual therapy such as massage if they suffer from a non-specific lower back pain - which means that their symptoms persist for at least six weeks, but less than a year.
Some 2.6 million people visit their GP suffering from backache. It affects around one in three adults each year and is the cause of one in every six days off work.
According to the guidance, X-rays, ultrasounds and MRI scans should not be used to investigate causes of back pain except in certain circumstances.
Experts that have doubts about the effectiveness of complementary therapies have criticised the guidance, saying evidence showed these therapies were no more effective than a placebo.
Edzard Ernst, from the Department of Complementary Medicine at Peninsula Medical School, said that the watchdogs' advice has "overestimated the benefit and underestimated the risks of chiropractic spinal manipulation."
However, Professor Steve Field, Chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, has welcomed the guidance.
He thinks that there is a clear evidence for the effectiveness of these complementary therapies.
Peter Littlejohns, the Institute's Clinical and Public Health Director, believes that beneficial effect of the therapies is "sufficiently robust" to recommend them over less cost-effective procedures such as X-rays or injections into the spine.
"The evidence still shows that on balance patients do better," he added.
The NICE said that providing these treatments to patients in England and Wales may save the NHS money in the long term.
The cost of the implementation of the guidance will be £77,000 a year. NICE said that this amount is in part owing to savings that could be made by dropping tests and treatments that have no proven clinical benefit.
It is still unclear when patients will be able to access the treatments on the NHS and if it will pay for patients to visit private practitioners for treatment.
(AC/JM)
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