Abstract
The aim of this article was to assess the clinical evidence for or against the blinding effect of non-penetrating sham needle as placebo needle. This systematic review included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture taking non-penetrating sham acupuncture as placebo needle. Systematic searches were conducted in 13 electronic databases up to July 2012: Medline, PubMed, the Cochrane Library, CINAHL, EMBASE, a Chinese medical database. All parallel or cross-over RCTs of acupuncture for the blinding effect of non-penetrating needle were chosen without language restrictions. Finally, totally 7 RCTs met the inclusion criteria. In conclusion, our systematic review and meta-analysis demonstrate that the non-penetrating needle is an effective instrument for placebo control in the acupuncture RCTs.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Enblom A, Johnsson A, Hammar M, Steineck G, Börjeson S. The nonpenetrating telescopic sham needle may blind patients with different characteristics and experiences when treated by several therapists. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med, 2011: 185034.
Lee H, Bang H, Kim Y, Park J, Lee S, Lee H, Park HJ. Non-penetrating sham needle, is it an adequate sham control in acupuncture research? Complement Ther Med, 2011, 19(Suppl 1): S41–48.
Takakura N, Yajima H. A double-blind placebo needle for acupuncture research. BMC Complement Altern Med, 2007, 7: 31.
Goddard G, Shen Y, Steele B, Springer N. A controlled trial of placebo versus real acupuncture. J Pain, 2005, 6(4): 237–242.
Enblom A, Hammar M, Steineck G, Börjeson S. Can individuals identify if needling was performed with an acupuncture needle or a non-penetrating sham needle? Complement Ther Med, 2008, 16(5): 288–294.
Kim S. Creating an instrument for a successful double-blind acupuncture placebo. J Acupunct Meridian Stud, 2008, 1(1): 36–41.
Chae Y, Um SI, Yi SH, Lee H, Chang DS, Yin CS, Park HJ. Comparison of biomechanical properties between acupuncture and non-penetrating sham needle. Complement Ther Med, 2011, 19(Suppl 1): S8–S12.
Lai X, Zhang G, Huang Y, Tang C, Yang J, Wang S, Zhou SF. A cerebral functional imaging study by positron emission tomography in healthy volunteers receiving true or sham acupuncture needling. Neurosci Lett, 2009, 452(2): 194–199.
Liu J, Wang JY, Liu JL, Zhu B. Placebo control in the design of acupuncture clinical trials. Zhenci Yanjiu, 2007, 32(6): 389–392.
Dhond RP, Kettner N, Napadow V. Do the neural correlates of acupuncture and placebo effects differ? Pain, 2007, 128(1–2): 8–12.
Liu HL, Zhang Y, Li JD, Chen P, Wang LP. Design and practice of acupuncture placebo-controlled method in clinical studies of acupuncture. Zhongguo Xunzheng Yixue Zazhi, 2008, 8(12): 1133–1135.
Yang HY, Guo TT, Min YJ, Liu TY, Gao M. Effect of emulation acupuncture pretreatment on the behavior of rats with visceral traction pain and its mechanism. Shanghai Zhenjiu Zazhi, 2009, 28(12): 732–737.
Liu ET, Wang SX, Lai XS, Huang Y, Tang CZ, Cui SY. 18F-FDG PET brain imaging study of the mechanism of cerebellar response to acupuncture at point Waiguan (SJ 5). Shanghai Zhenjiu Zazhi, 2012, 31(7): 453–456.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Author: Gong Xing-lan, master of medicine, resident physician
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gong, Xl., Pan, Zh., Shen, Y. et al. Blinding effect of non-penetrating sham needle in the randomized controlled trials of acupuncture: A systematic review. J. Acupunct. Tuina. Sci. 12, 8–11 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11726-014-0738-1
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11726-014-0738-1