Acupuncture for chronic shoulder pain in persons with spinal cord injury: a small-scale clinical trial

Dyson-Hudson, T. A.

Kadar, P.

Lafountaine, M.

Emmons, R.

Kirshblum, S. C.

Tulsky, D.

Komaroff, E.

Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation

2007

88(10)

1276-1283

RCT

Acu Versus Sham

Acupuncture

Penetrating Sham

Near Verum Acupoint Control

RCT

Restricted Modalities, Acupuncture Only

Semi-Individualized Acupuncture Protocol

Superficial Needling Depth

Sham Acupoint Control

Sham Control

Shoulder Pain

Spinal Cord Injuries

TCM Acupuncture Style

Traditional Diagnosis Based Point Selection

Wounds and Injuries

Dyson-Hudson TA, Kadar P, LaFountaine M, Emmons R, Kirshblum SC, Tulsky D, Komaroff E. Acupuncture for chronic shoulder pain in persons with spinal cord injury: a small-scale clinical trial. OBJECTIVE: To determine the efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of chronic musculoskeletal shoulder pain in subjects with spinal cord injury (SCI). DESIGN: Randomized, double blind (participants, evaluator), placebo (invasive sham) controlled trial. SETTING: Clinical research center. PARTICIPANTS: Seventeen manual wheelchair-using subjects with chronic SCI and chronic musculoskeletal shoulder pain. INTERVENTIONS: Participants were randomly assigned to receive 10 treatments of either acupuncture or invasive sham acupuncture (light needling of nonacupuncture points). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Changes in shoulder pain intensity were measured using the Wheelchair User's Shoulder Pain Index. RESULTS: Shoulder pain decreased significantly over time in both the acupuncture and the sham acupuncture groups (P=.005), with decreases of 66% and 43%, respectively. There was no significant difference between the 2 groups (P=.364). There was, however, a medium effect size associated with the acupuncture treatment. CONCLUSIONS: There appears to be an analgesic effect or a powerful placebo effect associated with both acupuncture and sham acupuncture. There was a medium treatment effect associated with the acupuncture, which suggests that it may be superior to sham acupuncture. This observation, along with the limited power, indicates that a larger, more definitive randomized controlled trial using a similar design is warranted

Shoulder Pain

>1/WK

17

5 Weeks