• Sarina Francescato Torres, Ana Carolina Brandt de Macedo, Regina Yassue Sakai, Gabriele Cristina Seguro Bressan, Matheus Bieberback Rodrigues Dos Santos, and MarquesAmelia PasqualAPDepartment of Physical Therapy, University of Sao Paulo, School of Medicine, Sao Paulo, Brazil..
• Department of Physical Therapy, University of Sao Paulo, School of Medicine, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
• Pain Physician. 2023 Mar 1; 26 (2): 161173161-173.

BackgroundAcupuncture is one of the most widely used therapies to treat chronic low back pain, whose analgesic effect seems to be potentiated by the addition of electric current (electroacupuncture). However, we are not aware of any clinical trial that has evaluated the effectiveness of this technique in adults > 65 years.ObjectiveTo evaluate the effect of electroacupuncture in the treatment of chronic low back pain in the elderly.Study DesignTriple-blind, controlled, and randomized clinical trial.SettingFaculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo (USP); Sector of Biological Sciences - Physiotherapy Course, Federal University of Paraná (UFPR).MethodsThe study included 125 elderly people with chronic nonspecific low back pain who were randomized to one of 5 study groups: 3 of electroacupuncture; one control; and one placebo, all of them treated for 5 weeks. The primary endpoint was pain intensity, and secondary endpoints included the qualitative aspect of pain, functional disability (Roland-Morris and sit and stand test), emotional functioning (depression and anxiety), and psychosocial factors. Data analysis followed the intention-to-treat principle. The confidence interval was set at 95% and the significance level at 5%.ResultsAll groups achieved a reduction in pain intensity; however, a significant difference was only detected between electroacupuncture and placebo, where the latter showed greater pain reduction. Regarding secondary outcomes, all groups showed good posttreatment results for all assessments but without statistical significance. Among the groups, the placebo was the one that obtained the best results between the pre- and post-treatment for depression, qualitative aspect of pain, and functional disability, but only for the qualitative aspect of pain and for the sit-and-stand test was a significant reduction found in the intergroup comparison. The analysis of the overall effect perceived by the participants in relation to low back pain revealed that individuals from all groups felt close to full recovery.LimitationsAbsence of follow-up and a relatively small number of patients.ConclusionsThis study provides evidence that there is no one frequency of electroacupuncture that is most effective in treating chronic low back pain in the elderly and that electroacupuncture is not superior to manual acupuncture or placebo treatment.

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