Effects of electroacupuncture frequencies on chronic low back pain in older adults: triple-blind, 12-months protocol for a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Low back pain (LBP) is the most frequent complaint in clinical practice. Electroacupuncture treatment may be effective; however, the supporting evidence is still limited, especially in older adults. OBJECTIVE: The current study is a randomized controlled trial that aims to evaluate the clinical efficacy of electroacupuncture in older adults with LBP. METHODS: A five-arm randomized controlled trial with patients and evaluators blinded to the group allocation. A total of 125 participants with non-specific LBP will be randomly assigned into one of five groups: three electroacupuncture groups (low, high, and alternating frequency); one control group; and one placebo group. The electroacupuncture will be applied twice a week (30 min per session) for five weeks. The primary clinical outcome measure will be pain intensity. The secondary outcomes include: quality of pain; physical functioning; perceived overall effect; emotional functionality; patient satisfaction; and psychosocial factors. Patients will be evaluated before the first session, immediately after the last, and followed up after six and 12 months to check the medium- and long-term effects. DISCUSSION: Although electroacupuncture is increasingly used to treat LBP, there is no guidance regarding the parameters used, which leads to inconsistent results. Thus, the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on LBP remains controversial and requires more studies, especially in the older adult population. CONCLUSION: This is the first randomized controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of different frequencies of electroacupuncture for treating chronic LBP in older adults. This study will provide evidence on the effectiveness of electroacupuncture as an alternative treatment method for LBP and will entail wider debate about an appropriate acupuncture intervention in this population. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT03802045. Registered on 14 January 2019.