Background. Research suggests that imagined experiences can produce brain responses similar to those produced by actual experiences. Shared brain responses that support both imagination and perception may underlie the functional nature of mental imagery. In a previous study, we combined acupuncture and imagery to develop a new treatment method, video-guided acupuncture imagery treatment (VGAIT). We found that VGAIT significantly increased pain thresholds in healthy subjects. The aim of this study is to extend our previous finding by investigating whether VGAIT can relieve symptoms in patients with chronic low back pain. Methods. We first performed a single-arm study in which we administered video-guided acupuncture imagery treatment (VGAIT) on patients with chronic low back pain (cLBP) (Study 1, , 12 females). We then compared our findings to those from a recently published study in which real or sham acupuncture treatment was applied on patients with cLBP (Study 2, , 31 females) using a similar protocol. All patients in Studies 1 and 2 received 6 treatments over 4 weeks. Results. All three treatments (VGAIT, real, and sham acupuncture) significantly reduced pain severity as measured by a low back pain bothersomeness score. VGAIT produced similar effects to real acupuncture () and nonsignificantly greater pain bothersomeness relief compared to sham acupuncture (). Additional analysis showed that there was no significant difference on the sensations evoked by different treatment modalities. Conclusion. These findings support VGAIT as a promising method for pain management.

中文翻译：

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想象中的和实际的针灸对慢性下腰痛的影响：初步研究。

背景。研究表明，想象的经历可以产生与实际经历相似的大脑反应。支持想象力和感知力的共同大脑反应可能是心理意象功能的本质。在先前的研究中，我们将针灸和影像学相结合，开发了一种新的治疗方法，即视频引导的针灸影像学治疗（VGAIT）。我们发现VGAIT显着增加了健康受试者的疼痛阈值。这项研究的目的是通过研究VGAIT是否可以缓解慢性下腰痛患者的症状来扩展我们先前的发现。方法。我们首先进行了单臂研究，其中我们对慢性下腰痛（cLBP）的患者进行了视频引导的针灸影像治疗（VGAIT）（研究1，， 12名女性）。然后，我们将我们的发现与最近发表的一项研究相比较，该研究对cLBP患者进行了真实或假针灸治疗（研究2，， 31名女性）使用类似的协议。研究1和2中的所有患者在4周内接受了6种治疗。结果。所有三种治疗方法（VGAIT，真实针刺和假针刺治疗）均能显着降低疼痛的严重程度，这可通过低背痛过敏评分来衡量。VGAIT产生了与真实针灸相似的效果（），与假针刺相比，疼痛不适的缓解效果不明显（）。进一步的分析表明，不同治疗方式引起的感觉没有显着差异。结论。这些发现支持VGAIT作为一种有希望的疼痛治疗方法。