Eficácia da auriculoterapia para redução da dor crônica na coluna vertebral em trabalhadores da saúde: ensaio clínico randomizado ; Auriculotherapy effectiveness to reduce chronic pain in the spinal column in healthcare workers: randomized clinical trial

The hospital environment has several risk factors that can influence the health of health workers. Among the health problems, the occurrence of musculoskeletal pain (MSD) stands out. Auriculotherapy can be an important strategy for pain relief. Aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of auriculotherapy in reducing chronic MSD in the spine of health workers. This is a triple-blind randomized clinical trial developed with health workers from a public hospital in southern Brazil. Workers who had a diagnosis of pain in the spinal region, least three months and intensity of four or more, were considered eligible. Data were collected from March 2021 to January 2022. Eight sessions of auriculotherapy were applied twice a week. Participants were randomized into two groups: intervention group (IG), in which seeds were applied to auricular points related to the outcome (n=34); and control group (CG), with seed application at points not related to the outcome (n=33). Four assessments were performed (1st, 4th and 8th sessions and follow up) using the Numerical Pain Scale (END), Brief Pain Inventory, Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire and SF-36. Data were entered into the Epiinfo program and analyzed using PASW 18.0 for Windows. Descriptive and inferential statistics (protocol and intention-to-treat analysis) were performed. Study approved by the Research Ethics Committee under Opinion n. 3,897,861 and registered with REBEC n. RBR-3jvmdn. It was evidenced that, in the last year, MSD prevailed in the neck (89.6%), shoulders (86.6%), lumbar spine (86.6%) and thoracic spine (68.2%). Pain intensity with a median of 7.00 (min. 4 and max. 10). In the NDT assessment, groups showed a reduction in pain intensity, however there was no statistical difference (p>0.05). In the follow-up segment, there was a statistically significant reduction of 34% in the mean of the IG (3.32 ± 0.42) in relation to the CG (5.00 ± 0.43) (p=0.007). In the assessment of quality of life, auriculotherapy proved to be effective in the vitality domain ...