Originally published by our sister publication Pain Medicine News
A review published in Pain Medicine found acupuncture can be effectively deployed in emergency departments to help manage acute pain and avoid or reduce the use opioids.
More than half of all chronic opioid use begins in the acute pain care setting (Pain Med 2022;23[9]:1582-1612).
The review built upon a 2018 Academic Consortium White Paper outlining nonpharmacologic interventions for pain management and included 22 systematic reviews: 17 with meta-analyses (SRM) of acupuncture in the acute pain setting.
A large SRM (13 randomized controlled trials; n=1,077) found the immediate analgesic effects from acupuncture in the acute setting were associated with greater immediate pain relief (30 minutes or less after the end a single treatment) than the pain relief reported with sham or analgesic injections (Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2017;2017:383719).
Another SRM of 39 trials of more than 20,000 chronic patients found acupuncture was more effective than sham treatment or usual care, with 85% retention of treatment benefit one after a course of care (J Pain 2018;19[5]:455-474; Programme Grants Appl Res 2017;5[3]:1-342).
Furthermore, previous data indicated that for chronic pain patients, the severity of pain can be a predictor of response to acupuncture, meaning that more severe pain will likely respond to acupuncture (Clin J Pain 2019;35[5]:428-434).
“If acupuncture were a drug, it would already be used in every acute and chronic pain care setting because the groundwork is already laid to implement new drugs in pain management when shown to be safe and efficacious,” said researcher Arya Nielsen, PhD, an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in New York City. “But, it’s harder to deploy safe and effective nonpharmacological therapies, because the framework for their implementation is not there. Therefore, one of the most important things about this research is disseminating it.”
The researchers noted that when administered by a trained professional, there is a low risk for adverse events associated with acupuncture—most of which are not serious. They also added further research is needed to clarify the optimal frequency, dosage and timing of acupuncture in the acute pain setting.
—Myles Starr
Nielsen reported no relevant financial disclosures.