- ICH GCP
- US Clinical Trials Registry
- Clinical Trial NCT01439412
Acupuncture in Acute Nonspecific Low Back Pain (Acuback)
Acupuncture in Acute Nonspecific Low Back Pain; a Randomized Controlled Multicenter Study in General Practice
Acute low back pain is a common disorder in general practice. Some general practitioners (GPs) treat acute low back pain (LBP) with acupuncture, despite lacking evidence of its effectiveness for this condition.
The aim of this study is to evaluate whether a single treatment-session with acupuncture can reduce time to recovery when applied in addition to standard LBP-treatment according to the Norwegian national guidelines. Analyses of prognostic factors for recovery and cost-effectiveness will also be carried out.
The investigators hypotheses are:
- Acupuncture treatment contributes to faster pain-recovery in acute LBP compared to standard treatment in general practice provided in accordance with the Norwegian national guidelines.
- Acupuncture treatment for acute LBP improves function, and reduces drug use and sick leave, compared to the standard treatment in general practice provided in accordance with national guidelines.
- Acupuncture treatment for acute LBP is a cost-effective treatment in general practice.
The investigators intend to include a total of 270 patients, 135 in the intervention group and 135 in the control group.
The investigators planned to do an interim analysis when reaching inclusion of 150 patients. However, this might lead to reduced overall significance level, and as a result of slow inclusion rate (by December 2015), the investigators plan to extend the inclusion time with one year and then complete the study in March 2017.
Study Overview
Status
Conditions
Intervention / Treatment
Study Type
Enrollment (Actual)
Phase
- Not Applicable
Contacts and Locations
Study Locations
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-
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Oslo, Norway
- Institute of Health and Society, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo
-
-
Participation Criteria
Eligibility Criteria
Ages Eligible for Study
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Description
Inclusion Criteria:
- Adults (20-55 years) who contact their general practitioners office because of acute nonspecific low back pain (0-14 days).
Exclusion Criteria:
- Nerve root affection and/or radiating pain below the knee.
- Low back pain with suspected "red flags", i.e. infections, tumors and metastatic disease, rheumatic disease, fractures and significant deformities of the spine.
- Low back pain which starts in pregnancy.
- Physician reported sick leave of 14 days or more during the last month before the back pain, for any reason.
Study Plan
How is the study designed?
Design Details
- Primary Purpose: Treatment
- Allocation: Randomized
- Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
- Masking: Single
Arms and Interventions
Participant Group / Arm |
Intervention / Treatment |
---|---|
Experimental: Acupuncture and standard treatment
Adults (20-55 years) who contact their general practitioners office because of acute nonspecific low back pain (0-14 days).
|
This group will get standard treatment in general practice in accordance with national guidelines, i.e. general advice about activity, prescription of pain relievers (paracetamol, eventually ibuprofen and eventually tramadol), and eventually sick leave. In addition they also will receive one treatment of standardized acupuncture procedure during the consultation. The acupuncture treatment starts with distal points in the right hand: Lumbar Pain Points (Yaotongxue), strong stimulation for one minute. With the needles still positioned, the patient is instructed to make cautious back and hip movements in 2 minutes. Then the patient lies down on a bench to treat the local points Huatuojiaji ("Jiaji") bilaterally in the segments of the L2-L4 for 5 minutes.
Other Names:
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Other: Standard treatment in general practice
Adults (20-55 years) who contact their general practitioners office because of acute nonspecific low back pain (0-14 days).
|
This group will get standard treatment in general practice in accordance with national guidelines, i.e. general advice about activity, prescription of pain relievers (paracetamol, eventually ibuprofen and eventually tramadol), and eventually sick leave.
Other Names:
|
What is the study measuring?
Primary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
---|---|---|
Median time in days to recovery of pain.
Time Frame: 1 year
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The median time in days to recovery of pain is measured at the first day the patient scores 0 or 1 point on the Numerical Rating Scale (NRS).
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1 year
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Secondary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
---|---|---|
Reduction in pain
Time Frame: 1 year
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Pain as measured by the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS), before and immediately after treatment and at the other follow-up times.
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1 year
|
Global measure of improvement
Time Frame: 1 year
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Measuring the patients perception of change, stated in whole numbers from 1 = much better to 5 = much worse (Likert improvement scale).
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1 year
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Back specific functional status
Time Frame: 1 year
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Measuring patients' perception of function.
The patient answers yes or no concerning 24 allegations about the activities and condition, depending on whether they feel that the statement describes them on this day.
Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire.
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1 year
|
Sick leaves
Time Frame: 1 year
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The number of days away from work due to back pain.
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1 year
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Use of medication
Time Frame: 1 year
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Use of medication.
Paracetamol, eventually others.
Counting of daily consumption.
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1 year
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Visits at the GP
Time Frame: 1 year
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Number of new visits at the GP for the back pain.
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1 year
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Side effects of treatment
Time Frame: 1 year
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Reporting of possible side effects of the treatment, both acupuncture and medication.
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1 year
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Collaborators and Investigators
Sponsor
Investigators
- Principal Investigator: Arne Fetveit, Dr. Med, General Practice Research Unit, Institute of Health and Society, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo
Publications and helpful links
General Publications
- Skonnord T, Skjeie H, Brekke M, Grotle M, Lund I, Fetveit A. Acupuncture for acute non-specific low back pain: a protocol for a randomised, controlled multicentre intervention study in general practice--the Acuback Study. BMJ Open. 2012 Jun 25;2(3):e001164. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2012-001164. Print 2012.
- Skonnord T, Fetveit A, Skjeie H, Brekke M, Grotle M, Klovning A, Aas E. Cost-effectiveness analysis of acupuncture compared with usual care for acute non-specific low back pain: secondary analysis of a randomised controlled trial. Acupunct Med. 2022 Apr;40(2):123-132. doi: 10.1177/09645284211055747. Epub 2021 Nov 30.
- Skonnord T, Skjeie H, Brekke M, Klovning A, Grotle M, Aas E, Mdala I, Fetveit A. Acupuncture for acute non-specific low back pain: a randomised, controlled, multicentre intervention study in general practice-the Acuback study. BMJ Open. 2020 Aug 6;10(8):e034157. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-034157.
Study record dates
Study Major Dates
Study Start (Actual)
Primary Completion (Actual)
Study Completion (Actual)
Study Registration Dates
First Submitted
First Submitted That Met QC Criteria
First Posted (Estimated)
Study Record Updates
Last Update Posted (Estimated)
Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria
Last Verified
More Information
Terms related to this study
Keywords
Additional Relevant MeSH Terms
Other Study ID Numbers
- Acuback
Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)
Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?
Drug and device information, study documents
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product
This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.
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