Acupuncture for Chronic Non-Cancer Pain: A Review of Clinical Effectiveness, Cost Effectiveness and Guidelines

Chronic pain affects 20% of Canadians. This persisting pain can negatively affect all aspects of a person’s life. Thanks to the World Health Organization (WHO), global consensus is acknowledging chronic pain as a legitimate disease in its own right and not merely as a symptom of another disease. Chronic pain persists or reoccurs for greater than three months, causes significant emotional distress, can emerge as a symptom of another disease but persist after that disease has been treated.However, chronic pain is difficult to manage due to the costs, addictiveness, and stigma surrounding pharmacological pain treatments, including opioids. Chronic pain, managed and unmanaged, also has direct costs on the community and healthcare system itself through loss of productivity.Acupuncture has been used for pain relief for thousands of years in China and may be a credible alternative to pharmacological treatments for people experiencing chronic pain, particularly when they are non-responsive or intolerant of usual care, or even want to avoid pharmacological treatment.The objective of this report is to summarize the evidence regarding the clinical and cost effectiveness of acupuncture for chronic non-cancer pain as well as relevant evidence-based guidelines regarding acupuncture for chronic non-cancer pain.