Characteristics of patients with chronic back pain who benefit from acupuncture

– Overall, the strongest predictors of improvement in back function and symptoms were higher baseline levels of these measures, receipt of an acupuncture treatment, and non–use of narcotic analgesics. Benefit from acupuncture compared to usual care was greater with worse pre–treatment levels of back dysfunction (interaction p< 0.004 for the functional outcome, Roland Morris Disability Scale at 8 weeks). No other consistent interactions were observed. This secondary analysis found little evidence for the existence of subgroups of patients with chronic back pain that would be especially likely to benefit from acupuncture. However, persons with chronic low back pain who had more severe baseline dysfunction had the most short–term benefit from acupuncture.