A recent landmark report commissioned by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), a division within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), found acupuncture to be at or near the top of every category measuring the effectiveness of a wide range of treatments for low back pain. Especially encouraging was the finding that acupuncture was more effective than or at least as effective as the higher risk medications commonly used to treat low back pain including NSAIDs, muscle relaxers and analgesics.

These finding were published in a February 2016 report titled “Noninvasive Treatments for Low Back Pain” and are part of an ongoing series of “Comparative Effectiveness Reviews” commissioned by the AHRQ. While not an official position of the AHRQ or DHHS this report “… is intended to help health care decision makers—patients and clinicians, health system leaders, and policymakers, among others—make well-informed decisions and thereby improve the quality of health care services.” Such reports “…draw on completed scientific studies to make head-to-head comparisons of different health care interventions.” This particular report is based on research conducted by the Pacific Northwest Evidence-based Practice Center and, at over 800 pages, is perhaps the most comprehensive head to head review ever undertaken of the wide range of noninvasive therapies commonly used for low back pain.