• Man-Suk Hwang, Kwang-Ho Heo, Hyun-Woo Cho, Byung-Cheul Shin, Hyeon-Yeop Lee, In Heo, Nam-Kwen Kim, Byung-Kwan Choi, Dong-Wuk Son, and Eui-Hyoung Hwang.
• Department of Rehabilitation Medicine of Korean Medicine, Pusan National University Korean Medicine Hospital, Yangsan, South Korea Department of Korean Medical Science, School of Korean Medicine, Pusan National University, Yangsan, South Korea.
• BMJ Open. 2015 Jan 1;5(2):e007031.

IntroductionRecurrent or persistent low back pain is common after back surgery but is typically not well controlled. Previous randomised controlled trials on non-acute pain after back surgery were flawed. In this article, the design and protocol of a randomised controlled trial to treat pain and improve function after back surgery are described.Methods And AnalysisThis study is a pilot randomised, active-controlled, assessor-blinded trial. Patients with recurring or persistent low back pain after back surgery, defined as a visual analogue scale value of ≥50 mm, with or without leg pain, will be randomly assigned to an electroacupuncture-plus-usual-care group or to a usual-care-only group. Patients assigned to both groups will have usual care management, including physical therapy and patient education, twice a week during a 4-week treatment period that would begin at randomisation. Patients assigned to the electroacupuncture-plus-usual-care group will also have electroacupuncture twice a week during the 4-week treatment period. The primary outcome will be measured with the 100 mm pain visual analogue scale of low back pain by a blinded evaluator. Secondary outcomes will be measured with the EuroQol 5-Dimension and the Oswestry Disability Index. The primary and secondary outcomes will be measured at 4 and 8 weeks after treatment.Ethics And DisseminationWritten informed consent will be obtained from all participants. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of Pusan National University Korean Hospital in September 2013 (IRB approval number 2013012). The study findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at national and international conferences.Trial Registration NumberThis trial was registered with the US National Institutes of Health Clinical Trials Registry: NCT01966250.Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

22 keywords...

hide…