Is Skin-Touch Sham Needle Not Placebo? A Double-Blind Crossover Study on Pain Alleviation
Item
Title
Is Skin-Touch Sham Needle Not Placebo? A Double-Blind Crossover Study on Pain Alleviation
Journal Publication
Date
2015
volume
2015
pages
152086
Research Type
RCT
Abstract
It remains an open question whether placebo/sham acupuncture, in which the needle tip presses the skin, can be used as a placebo device for research on pain. We compare the analgesic effect of the skin-touch placebo needle with that of the no-touch placebo needle, in which the needle tip does not touch the skin, in a double-blind crossover manner including no-treatment control in 23 healthy volunteers. The subjects received painful electrical stimulation in the forearm before and during needle retention to the LI 4 acupoint and after the removal of the needle and rated pain intensity using a visual analogue scale. We found no significant difference in analgesic effects among the skin-touch placebo needle, no-touch placebo needle, and no-treatment control at every point before, during, and after the treatments (p > 0.05). The results indicate that the skin-touch placebo needle can be used as a placebo device in clinical studies on pain.
doi
10.1155/2015/152086
pmid
PMID:26064153; PMCID:PMC4439487
View on Pubmed
Language
English
has study population number
0