Using Diffuse Noxious Inhibitory Control (DNIC) to Predict Acupuncture Therapy Outcome: A Pilot Study

University of Washington

Status: Completed

Conditions: Pain

Treatments: Other: Acupuncture

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01088867

36255-A

Details and patient eligibility

About

The investigators hypothesize that acupuncture modifies the DNIC efficiency and that DNIC can serve as a predictor to identify 'good responders' to acupuncture early in therapy.

Enrollment: 10 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 60 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Healthy women with a progesterone-coated intrauterine device (Mirena), and
• Men greater than or equal to 18 years old.

Exclusion criteria

• Acupuncture treatment in the previous six weeks, to discount any persisting effect of acupuncture.
• Treatment of a pain condition with pain medication.
• Regular use of benzodiazepines.
• Skin diseases, such as scleroderma, psoriasis or eczema.
• An adverse event due to acupuncture therapy.
• Pregnant women.
• Women without a progesterone-coated intrauterine device (Mirena).
• Anyone older than 60 years of age, fatigued, with a pacemaker ICD, artificial joint, prolonged bleeding time/hemophilia, open wounds, or a known susceptibility to profound analgesia after acupuncture treatment.

Trial design

10 participants in 1 patient group

Acupuncture

Other group

Description:

14 weeks of electroacupuncture therapy.

Treatment:

Other: Acupuncture