Presentation summary

Importance :
Sciatica is commonly caused by herniated lumbar disc and contributes to severe pain and prolonged disability. Although acupuncture is widely used by patients with chronic sciatica, the evidence of itsefficacy is scarce.

Objective :
To investigate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture compared with sham acupuncture in patients with chronic sciatica from herniated disk (CSHD).

Design, setting and participants :
This was a multicenter randomized clinical trial conducted in 6tertiary-level hospitals in China of patients with CSHD.

Iinterventions :
Participants were randomly assigned to receive 10 sessions of acupuncture or sham acupuncture over 4 weeks. Participants, outcome assessors, and statisticians were blinded.

Main outcomes and measures :
The 2 coprimary outcomes were changes in visual analog scale (VAS)for leg pain and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) from baseline to week 4. Secondary outcomes were adverse events.

Results :
A total of 216 patients (mean [SD] age, 51.3 [15.2] years ; 147 females [68.1%] and 69 males[31.9%]) were included in the analyses. The VAS for leg pain decreased 30.8 mm in the acupuncture group and 14.9 mm in the sham acupuncture group at week 4 (mean difference, −16.0; 95% CI, −21.3 to −10.6; P <.001). The ODI decreased 13.0 points in the acupuncture group and 4.9 points in the sham acupuncture group at week 4 (mean difference, −8.1; 95% CI, −11.1 to −5.1; P < .001). For both VAS and ODI, the between-group difference became apparent starting in week 2 and persisted through week 52 (mean difference, −10.8; [95%CI, −16.3 to −5.2; P < .001; and −4.8; 95% CI, −7.8 to −1.7; P = .003, respectively). No serious adverse events occurred.

Conclusions and relevance :
In patients with CSHD, acupuncture resulted in less pain and better function compared with sham acupuncture at week 4, and these benefits persisted through week 52.Acupuncture should be considered as a potential treatment option for patients with CSHD.