A randomized controlled trial of acupressure backrest in chronic low back pain: a study in office workers

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of acupressure backrest and to compare those effects between the randomized and preferred groups among office workers with chronic low back pain. Ninety-six participants were randomly assigned to either no intervention (n=32), backrest with acupressure point (n=32) or backrest without acupressure point groups. The participants (n=37) who wished to try the backrest were recruited to the preference group. The study outcomes were pain, disability, psychological aspect, quality of life, spinal mobility and physical performance at baseline, 2, 4 weeks, 1, 2, 3 months. For between groups analysis, the results indicated that backrest with and without acupressure point groups showed a significantly difference in pain, disability, spinal mobility, physical performance and well-being compared to the control group (P<0.05). Comparing between the backrest with and without acupressure point groups, there was no significant differences between them in the majority of outcomes. For within subject effect, the backrest with and without acupressure point groups showed significant improvement in pain, functional disability, quality of life, spinal mobility and physical performance at most of the points measured (P<0.05). While a reduction of participants taking medication was presented in the acupressure backrest group only during the follow-up period. No significant difference found between the allocated and preferred backrest groups for pain and disability. These findings suggested that the acupressure backrest could improve low back pain conditions and reduce the medicine usage. Preference was not a powerful moderator to the significant treatment effect.