Acupuncture has unique advantages in the treatment of low back
fasciitis and has been paid increasing attention. At present, many studies have summarized the efficacy of acupuncture and
moxibustion in the treatment of low back
fasciitis, but few have been summarized from the perspective of acupuncture alone.
AIM: The randomized controlled trials (RCT) of acupuncture in the treatment of low back
fasciitis were searched in Pubmed, Embase, and Cochrane Library from the data of establishment to July 2023. Two authors independently conducted document screening, data abstraction, and qualitative assessment. RevMan 5.3 software and Stata 17.0 software were used for data analysis. The quantitative data were represented by mean difference (MD). The qualitative data were represented by odds ratio (OR).
RESULTS: Finally, a total of 12 RCTs with a total sample size of 930 cases were included, of which 461 patients received simple
acupuncture treatment (Group A) and 469 patients received non-simple
acupuncture treatment (Group B). The results of the meta-analysis showed that: (1) Clinical total effective rate: The results of subgroup analysis showed that the clinical total effective rate of acupuncture was significantly higher than that of Western medicine [OR = 12.72, 95% CI (2.26, 71.78), P = 0.004]; the total effective rate of the
traditional Chinese medicine therapy was significantly higher than that of acupuncture [OR = 0.35, 95% CI (0.19, 0.65), P < 0.001]. (2) Score of the visual analog scale (VAS)
after treatment: There was no significant difference in VAS score between Group A and Group B
after treatment [MD = -0.22, 95% CI (-1.56, 1.12), P = 0.75]. (3) Oswestry disability index
after treatment: The results of subgroup analysis showed that the Oswestry disability index
after treatment of acupuncture was significantly lower than that of Western medicine
therapy [MD = -0.05, 95% CI (-0.10, -0.00), P = 0.04]; the Oswestry disability index of Chinese medicine
therapy was significantly lower than that of acupuncture alone [WD = 0.10, 95% CI (0.05, 0.15), P < 0.001].
CONCLUSION: In the treatment of low back
fasciitis, simple
acupuncture therapy is superior to Western medicine
therapy in improving treatment efficiency and low back muscle dysfunction, but slightly inferior to other
traditional Chinese medicine therapies. Due to the limited efficacy of acupuncture, it is recommended to combine other
therapies to improve the efficacy. Due to the small number of RTCs included and the unclear evaluation of many bias risks, high-quality, large sample randomized controlled studies are still needed to prove it.