Sham Acupuncture Devices – Practical Advice for Researchers

Details

• Personal Author:
  Goldman R ; Kaptchuk TJ ; Kong J ; McManus CA ; Nam BH ; Nguyen LT ; Schnyer RN ; Stason WB
• Description:
  Several validated sham acupuncture devices have recently become available. While some debate exists on whether such needles are the best placebo control for an RCT of acupuncture, practical advice based on research experience is missing from the literature. This paper shares our concrete experience using the most commonly used such sham needle (the 'Streitberger needle' and its paired verum needle) in a large RCT (n=135) which included a two-week run-in period. The placebo run-in gave us an opportunity to use the sham device on all participants, who were then re-randomised to receive genuine acupuncture or to continue treatment with the device. The blinding was successful both at the end of the run-in and at the conclusion of the trial despite the re-randomisation. We also report our experience with the sham needle in neuroimaging experiments where the magnetic machinery poses considerable challenges for acupuncture research. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Men Occupational Health Safety Women
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Sham Acupuncture Humans Magnetic Fields Neurological System Research Protocols Sham Needle
• ISSN:
  0964-5284
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  36-40
• Volume:
  25
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20057720
• Citation:
  Acupunct Med 2007 Jun; 25(1-2):36-40
• Contact Point Address:
  Claire A McManus, Harvard Medical School, Boston
• Email:
  mcmanusacupuncture@mac.com
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2007
• Performing Organization:
  Harvard School of Public Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Acupuncture in Medicine
• End Date:
  20280630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:2d4173449aac39a3b94f8e1375e11b53bde3db23b0c901a16e8bcee790173dcc7099fe815f6cb8cd4704b08c9421edce959a4d14ef5f0e5ed4068f8d5778a632
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/214969/cdc_214969_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 154.26 KB ]