People often ask if acupuncture can help them if they are looking for an alternative to drug-based painkillers. Thankfully there is a growing body of high-quality scientific research on this topic. Here I will give a short summary of some of this research, but please note, this does not replace advice given by your doctor and is intended for information only.

 

An overview of Cochrane reviews from 2025 looked at treatments for lower-back pain, and found evidence that acupuncture probably does reduce pain intensity and improve function, and found a difference between true acupuncture and fake or sham acupuncture placebo.

 

Other smaller Cochrane reviews looking at different types of pain were limited by the volume of studies available to analyse, and were unable to draw conclusions by themselves.

A 2018 meta-analysis concluded that acupuncture is effective for the treatment of chronic pain, with effects persisting over time, and that this decrease in pain cannot just be explained by the placebo effect.

A meta-analysis published in JAMA in 2012 concluded that acupuncture is effective for the treatment of chronic pain and is therefore a reasonable referral option.

 

A 2020 British Medical Journal systematic review which looked at acupuncture for pain management among cancer patients in palliative care concluded that it may be a safe and effective treatment in this case. They did outline the need for further studies also.

 

Aside from systematic reviews and meta-analyses, the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence publish clinical healthcare guidelines for the UK, and they recommend acupuncture for the treatment of chronic pain.

In the US, the American Chronic Pain Association issued resource guidelines which they co-authored with Stanford University, and in it they recommend acupuncture for the treatment of chronic pain.

Also, a Pain Management Best Practices Report, by the US Department of Health and Human Services, listed acupuncture among the non-pharmacologic treatments, and they pointed out the growing evidence of acupuncture’s therapeutic value to treat conditions such as osteoarthritis, migraine, back, neck, and knee pain.

 

So, can acupuncture help with pain? Its possibly what acupuncture is most well-known for, and there is an abundance of evidence to support this. There are a few things I must point out though.

1. Firstly, I am an acupuncturist, and so I am unavoidably biased towards acupuncture, just as there are also people who are biased against acupuncture. In the interest of transparency, I’ll list out the research references mentioned here so that you can check them out.
2. Secondly, acupuncture is difficult to design high quality trials for, so, you will find some systematic reviews are inconclusive due to a low volume of high-quality evidence available, especially with the older reviews. For example, one synthesis of systematic reviews from the Lithuanian Journal of Medicine found they couldn’t draw firm conclusions one way or another due to weak study design in many of the trials they looked at. Thankfully robustly designed acupuncture research is continuing to grow.
3. The third point here is that if you are going to try acupuncture, like any profession, there are good acupuncturists and there are bad ones. Check that they are a member of the ACI or the AFPA at a minimum (if in Ireland), that they are knowledgeable and experienced, that they have continued to upskill after graduating, and that you feel like they are professional and someone you trust.
4. Lastly then, a core principle of Traditional Chinese Medicine is trying to understand the root cause of the issue before treating the patient. Pain can be caused by many things. For example, diet, chronic stress, infections, musculoskeletal injury – and it is important that these are taken into account, whether or not acupuncture is being used.

In conclusion, there is a lot of high-quality evidence that acupuncture can treat pain. Depending on the patient’s individual situation, it may be worth trying. Make sure you are working with a good practitioner, and that you are addressing the root cause.

 

Seamus Fitzgerald, Réiteach Integrative Health.

Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine. Dungarvan, Co. Waterford.

 

References:

1. Chronic Pain Ireland (2023) What Is Chronic Pain? Available at: https://chronicpain.ie/what-is-chronic-pain/ (Accessed 09 August 2025).
2. Raftery, M. N. et al. (2011). Chronic pain in the Republic of Ireland—Community prevalence, psychosocial profile and predictors of pain-related disability: Results from the Prevalence, Impact and Cost of Chronic Pain (PRIME) study, Part 1. Pain, 152(5), 1096–1103
3. Breivik, H., et al. (2006). Survey of chronic pain in Europe: Prevalence, impact on daily life, and treatment. European Journal of Pain, 10(4), 287–287.
4. Miriam, N., et al. (2012), The Economic Cost of Chronic Noncancer Pain in Ireland: Results From the PRIME Study, Part 2, The Journal of Pain, Volume 13, Issue 2, Pages 139-145, ISSN 1526-5900
5. Dowell, D., et al. (2022) CDC Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain — United States, MMWR Recomm Rep. 71(No. RR-3):1–95
6. Parisien, M., et al. (2022) Acute inflammatory response via neutrophil activation protects against the development of chronic pain. Sci. Transl. Med.14,eabj9954.
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10. Vickers, A.J., et al. (2018) Acupuncture for Chronic Pain: Update of an Individual Patient Data Meta-Analysis, The Journal of Pain, Volume 19, Issue 5, 455 – 474
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13. MacPherson, H., et al. (2017) Acupuncture Trialists’ Collaboration. The persistence of the effects of acupuncture after a course of treatment: a meta-analysis of patients with chronic pain. Pain. 158(5):784-793
14. Yang, J., et al. (2021), Acupuncture for palliative cancer pain management: systematic review, BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care. 11:264-270
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17. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2021) Chronic pain (primary and secondary) in over 16s: assessment of all chronic pain and management of chronic primary pain. Available at: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng193/chapter/recommendations (Accessed 09 August 2025).
18. American Chronic Pain Association (2024) The ACPA and Stanford Resource Guide to Chronic Pain Management. Available at: https://www.acpanow.com/acpa-stanford-guide.html#/ (Accessed 09 August 2025).
19. Joint Commission International (2017) R3 Report Issue 11: Pain Assessment and Management Standards for Hospitals. Available at: https://www.jointcommission.org/standards/r3-report/r3-report-issue-11-pain-assessment-and-management-standards-for-hospitals/ (Accessed 09 August 2025).
20. S. Department of Health and Human Services (2019) Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force Report. Available at: https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/pain-mgmt-best-practices-draft-final-report-05062019.pdf (Accessed 09 August 2025).