Acupuncture in medicine : journal of the British Medical Acupuncture Society
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effect of intraoperative electroacupuncture on postoperative pain, analgesic requirements, nausea and sedation: a randomised controlled trial.
Acupuncture has potential value in producing analgesia in the postoperative period, but previous trials have inconsistent results. We aimed to study the effect of electroacupuncture on pain and nausea and the requirement for postoperative analgesia via patient-controlled analgesia. ⋯ Electroacupuncture at 10 Hz given under general anaesthetic has no effect on postoperative nausea or analgesic requirement. Future studies should investigate acupuncture given before or after surgery.
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In an experiment on one of the authors, we used ultrasound to visualise an acupuncture needle completely perforating the median nerve at the acupuncture point PC6. During this procedure only a slight sensation occurred, and no pain. We conclude that, in individual cases, the median nerve might be perforated without causing pain or neurological problems.
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During the last five years a large number of randomised controlled clinical trials (RCTs) have been published on the efficacy of acupuncture in different conditions. In most of these studies verum is compared with sham acupuncture. In general both verum and sham have been found to be effective, and often with little reported difference in outcome. ⋯ However, this conclusion is based on the assumption that sham acupuncture is inert. Since sham acupuncture evidently is merely another form of acupuncture from the physiological perspective, the assumption that sham is sham is incorrect and conclusions based on this assumption are therefore invalid. Clinical guidelines based on such conclusions may therefore exclude suffering patients from valuable treatments.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
A placebo acupuncture needle with potential for double blinding - a validation study.
The double blind, non-penetrating placebo needle is effective in masking patients who are not informed that they may receive a placebo needle. In this study, we aimed to examine whether such needles are effective in masking subjects who have been so informed. ⋯ The non-penetrating placebo needle was effective in masking fully informed subjects. When used together with the matched penetrating needle, it has potential for use in double blind (patient and practitioner blind) studies.