gms | German Medical Science

Deutscher Kongress für Orthopädie und Unfallchirurgie (DKOU 2017)

24.10. - 27.10.2017, Berlin

Effectiveness of leech therapy in treatment of chronic low back pain – a randomised controlled clinical study

Meeting Abstract

Suche in Medline nach

  • presenting/speaker Christoph-Daniel Hohmann - Charité Hochschulambulanz für Naturheilkunde am Immanuel Krankenhaus, Berlin, Germany

Deutscher Kongress für Orthopädie und Unfallchirurgie (DKOU 2017). Berlin, 24.-27.10.2017. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2017. DocPO22-1038

doi: 10.3205/17dkou770, urn:nbn:de:0183-17dkou7709

Veröffentlicht: 23. Oktober 2017

© 2017 Hohmann.
Dieser Artikel ist ein Open-Access-Artikel und steht unter den Lizenzbedingungen der Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (Namensnennung). Lizenz-Angaben siehe http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.


Gliederung

Text

Objectives: Low back pain has a high relevance in means of prevalence and socioeconomic consequences. This paper presents a clinical trial assessing the effectiveness of medical leech therapy for chronic low back pain.

Methods: We aimed to investigate the effectiveness of leech therapy in chronic low back pain. Forty-four patients with chronic low back pain who scored > 40 mm since et least 3 months on a 100mm VAS pain scale were randomized to a single treatment with 4-7 locally applied leeches (leech group) or a 28 day course with back exercise once a week for one hour led by a physiotherapist. Primary outcome measure was change of overall pain on 100 mm VAS for pain from baseline to day 28. Secondary outcomes were overall impairment by pain on VAS 100 mm, disability (RMDS, FFbH-R), quality of life (SF-36) and pain reception (SES). Patients were examined baseline and at days 28 and 56 after treatment.

Results and Conclusion: Overall pain score at day 28 was reduced from 61.23+/-15.6 to 33.74 +/-22.7 in the leech group (n=25) and from 61.55 +/-14.76 to 60.44 +/- 17.52 in back exercise group (n=19) (group difference -25.23, 95%CI -41.01; -9.45; p=0.0018). Significant treatment effects were also observed for the impairment VAS, RMDS, FfBH-R, SF36, and SES. Results were not affected by outcome expectation.

A single course of leech therapy is effective in relieving pain, improving disability and QoL for at least 2 months. Leech therapy is an effective option in the treatment of low pain.

Der Vortrag wurde auch auf dem ICCMR-Kongress 2017 (3 bis 5 Mai 2017) in Berlin eingereicht und angenommen.