Acupuncture may help seniors with chronic lower back pain
Treatment is another item in the toolbox to treat disabling condition, says UCI Health expert
IN THE NEWS: A new study has found that acupuncture may relieve chronic lower back pain in seniors.
Dr. Gary Deng, the director of the new Integrative Oncology Program at the UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, in partnership with the Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute, recently spoke with UPI about the significance of the findings. He was not involved in the study.
"What makes this study important and significant is its scientific rigor. It is a large, randomized, controlled trial of 800 people, meaning that we can have more confidence in the results. It was conducted at multiple study sites. Therefore, the results are generalized to apply to real-world situations.”
He also discussed the research findings that surprised him, along with how the addition of acupuncture to a clinician’s toolbox can help patients.
"What did surprise me was that the effects lasted up to 12 months after only three months of, on average, once weekly treatment. If you take a pain pill for chronic pain, the effects will stop once you stop taking the pills. Not so for acupuncture, according to this study.”
"Taking pain medications for chronic pain is not a good long-term solution because the drugs have side effects. Acupuncture is another tool in our toolbox to address this condition."
Deng is an internationally respected pioneering oncologist and the associate director of the UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and the director of clinical affairs at the Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute, part of UCI Health. He holds the Samueli Endowed Chair in Integrative Oncology and is a professor of medicine at the UC Irvine School of Medicine.
He has served as principal investigator for federally funded research on acupuncture, yoga and botanical agents, and has led the development of educational programs that have trained numerous physicians and researchers in integrative oncology. He is a past president of the Society for Integrative Oncology and author of the 2022 book, The Wellness Principles: Cooking for a Healthy Life.
Deng specializes in a whole-person, integrative approach to supporting patients with cancer through all phases of treatment, survivorship and prevention.
About UCI Health
UCI Health, one of California’s largest academic health systems, is the clinical enterprise of the University of California, Irvine. The 1,317-bed system comprises its main campus UCI Medical Center, its flagship hospital in Orange, Calif., the UCI Health — Irvine medical campus, four hospitals and affiliated physicians of the UCI Health Community Network in Orange and Los Angeles counties and a network of ambulatory care centers across the region. UCI Medical Center provides tertiary and quaternary care and is home to the only Orange County-based National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, high-risk perinatal/neonatal program and American College of Surgeons-verified Level I adult and Level II pediatric trauma center, gold level 1 geriatric emergency department and regional burn center. Powered by UC Irvine, UCI Health serves 5.6 million people in Orange County, western Riverside County and southeast Los Angeles County. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter).