Acupuncture Can Reduce Perceived Pain, Mood Disturbances and Medical Expenses Related to Low Back Pain among Factory Employees

Treatise on M-Test (Meridian Test).

Industrial Health - Vol. 46 (2008) , No. 4 pp.336-340
Acupuncture Can Reduce Perceived Pain, Mood Disturbances and Medical Expenses Related to Low Back Pain among Factory Employees
Kenta SAWAZAKI1)2), Yoshito MUKAINO3), Fujihisa KINOSHITA4), Tatsuro HONDA4), Osamu MOHARA4), Hinata SAKURABA2), Toshihiro TOGO1)2) and Kazuhito YOKOYAMA1)

Abstract: To investigate the effects of acupuncture on perceived pain, mood disturbances andmedical expenses related to low back pain (LBP), an intervention study was performed among72 employees of a steel company, 70 males and 2 females, aged 53.1 ± 7.1 (mean ± SD) yr, withLBP. They received acupuncture treatment once a week for 8 wk (from October to December1998) by licensed acupuncturists, adopting a new hypothesis of the Meridian test. Perceived painscale, and Profile of Mood States (POMS) were administered. Past and present histories ofemployees’ visits to hospitals and their medical expenses for LBP were surveyed from receiptsobtained from the subjects’ branch factory and from receipts from another nearby branch factory(control) during the period from April 1998 to March 1999. After 8 wk of treatment, patientswith LBP reported diminished pain (p<0.01). POMS showed a significant decrease in the totalmood disturbance score (p<0.001). The number of visits to conventional hospitals (12.1 ± 8.0 vs.0.8 ± 0.8 per month, p<0.05) and standardized medical expenses for LBP (100.1 ± 89.6 vs. 7.3 ± 6.9per month, p<0.05) after acupuncture intervention (November 1998 to March 1999) were significantlydecreased as compared with those before intervention (April 1998 to October 1998). Incontrast, such decreases were not observed in employees from the control branch factory. It issuggested that acupuncture can reduce medical expenses for LBP through improvement in moodand pain.

1) Department of Public Health and Occupational Medicine, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine
2) Department of Acupuncture Medicine, Faculty of Oriental Medicine, Suzuka University of Medical Science
3) Laboratory of Sports Medicine, Faculty of Sports and Health Science, Fukuoka University
4) Wakayama Wellness Foundation(Received October 12, 2007)(Accepted April 14, 2008)

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