Needles give relief

ACUPUNCTURE can be as safe and acceptable form of pain relief as drugs for some emergency department patients suffering back pain and ankles sprains, the results of a new trial reveal.

Although the results show acupuncture was equivalent to medication, patient’s pain levels were still not adequately managed by either treatment or by combining them.

The RMIT-led trial compared the pain levels of more than 500 patients with back pain, ankle sprain and migraines at four Melbourne hospitals.

RMIT’s Professor Marc Cohen wrote in the Medical Journal of Australia that acupuncture alone, or in conjunction with pharmacotherapy, provided pain relief equivalent to just using drugs.