Action of ear acupuncture in people with chronic pain in the spinal column: a randomized clinical trial1.
Caroline de Castro Moura, Denise Hollanda Iunes, Silvia Graciela Ruginsk and 3 others
PMID 30183875WHAT IT FOUND
Ear acupuncture reduced disability in adults with chronic spinal pain more than simulated treatment at the final assessment, but the simulated treatment also improved.
The effect persisted only over short follow-up.
Key findings
01On the 24-item disability scale, the acupuncture group's median score was 4.0 at the final assessment, compared with 8.0 in placebo and 11.0 in control.
02Disability also improved in the placebo group, falling from a median of 12.5 to 8.0 at the final assessment.
03Dorsal tissue temperature increased significantly within groups between baseline and follow-up or between final and follow-up, but the groups did not differ from one another.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Twenty-seven of the 110 eligible people did not complete the study; the paper reports discomfort from ear needles and long assessment-only periods as reasons. It was a single-centre trial in a Brazilian university clinic, so results may not apply elsewhere. Only investigators and the analyst were blinded; participants were not described as blinded, and the control group received no intervention. The placebo group also improved, so the trial cannot show that the specific auricular points explain all of the disability reduction. Follow-up lasted only 15 days. The tissue temperature change did not differ between groups, so it does not support a group-specific physiological effect.
Declared interests
It was supported by CAPES in Brazil and came from a master's thesis; the supplied text gives no company funding or author conflict declaration.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the dorsal temperature rise as proof that ear acupuncture caused a physiological effect; the groups did not differ, and placebo and control showed similar increases.