NICE recommends acupuncture for chronic pain

Earlier this year NICE published their updated guidance for the treatment of chronic pain, which was revised because of the need to decrease the prescription of opioid painkillers.

The good news is that these guidelines recommend a course of acupuncture treatment for chronic primary pain (i.e. pain ‘with no clear underlying cause, or pain (or its impact) that is out of proportion to any observable injury or disease’ *)

This recommendation was based on the strength of modern evidence that acupuncture is effective for pain relief - in fact it was found to be more conclusive than the evidence for opioid painkillers, anti-inflammatory medications and paracetamol. 

And a big plus for acupuncture is that it does not have potentially harmful side effects.

We are very pleased to see acupuncture beginning to receive the recognition it deserves and look forward to helping many people overcome chronic pain in future.

* NICE guideline [NG193] Published: 07 April 2021