Trial Summary
What is the purpose of this trial?The goal of this preliminary study is to test methods and procedures to be used in a fully-powered trial to evaluate acupuncture treatment effectiveness. Specifically, we will test the feasibility of conducting a 2-arm randomized clinical trial for evaluating the effectiveness of acupuncture for pain in patients with long COVID. Researchers will compare pain intensity and impact on general activities over 5 months in those who receive acupuncture treatment compared to patients who are receiving usual long COVID care.
Participants will complete 4 online surveys at weeks 0, 4, 8, and 20. These surveys include validated mental and physical health questionnaires. Participants who are randomly selected to receive the intervention will receive 8 acupuncture treatment sessions.
Do I need to stop my current medications for this trial?
The trial protocol does not specify whether you need to stop taking your current medications. It is best to discuss this with the trial coordinators or your healthcare provider.
What data supports the idea that Acupuncture for Post-COVID Syndrome is an effective treatment?
The available research shows that acupuncture may help improve symptoms related to Post-COVID Syndrome. One case report highlights a patient benefiting from acupuncture as part of a comprehensive treatment plan. Another study suggests acupuncture can improve the side effects of COVID-19 treatments, which often have harmful side effects. Additionally, acupuncture has been reported to help with respiratory distress and other symptoms like fatigue, anxiety, and depression. However, more research is needed to fully understand its effectiveness.
12345What safety data is available for acupuncture treatments?
Acupuncture is generally considered safe, but it can have adverse events (AEs). Systematic reviews and studies have identified four major categories of AEs: organ or tissue injuries, infections, local reactions, and other complications like dizziness. Serious AEs are rare but can occur, sometimes leading to mortality. The most common complications are infections, often bacterial, due to improper needle use. Ensuring acupuncturists are well-trained and follow safety guidelines, such as the Clean Needle Technique, is crucial for minimizing risks.
678910Is acupuncture a promising treatment for Post-COVID Syndrome?
Acupuncture is a promising treatment because it has been shown to help with pain relief in various conditions, such as after surgery and chronic pain. It is a common alternative medicine that can effectively manage pain and improve recovery.
1112131415Eligibility Criteria
This trial is for individuals experiencing pain due to long COVID. Participants must be willing to complete online health surveys and attend acupuncture sessions if selected. Specific inclusion and exclusion criteria details are not provided, but typically involve factors like age, overall health status, and the severity of symptoms.Inclusion Criteria
My pain level has been 4 or higher in the past week.
I am 18 years old or older.
I have had COVID-19 before.
+3 more
Exclusion Criteria
I have a high-risk seizure disorder with recent changes or uncontrolled triggers.
I am currently undergoing treatment for cancer.
Is currently Pregnant
+6 more
Participant Groups
The study is testing whether acupuncture can help reduce pain in patients with long COVID compared to usual care. It's a preliminary study designed as a randomized clinical trial where some participants will receive acupuncture over five months while others continue their regular treatments.
2Treatment groups
Experimental Treatment
Active Control
Group I: AcupunctureExperimental Treatment1 Intervention
Participants will receive 8 sessions of acupuncture treatment
Group II: Usual CareActive Control1 Intervention
Participants will continue to receive any current or recommended treatments from their doctors for their long COVID symptoms.
Acupuncture is already approved in United States, European Union, China, Australia for the following indications:
🇺🇸 Approved in United States as Acupuncture for:
- Pain management
- Hot flashes
- Fatigue
- Sleep disturbances
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Neuropathy
🇪🇺 Approved in European Union as Acupuncture for:
- Pain management
- Hot flashes
- Fatigue
- Sleep disturbances
- Anxiety
- Depression
🇨🇳 Approved in China as Acupuncture for:
- Pain management
- Hot flashes
- Fatigue
- Sleep disturbances
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Neuropathy
🇦🇺 Approved in Australia as Acupuncture for:
- Pain management
- Hot flashes
- Fatigue
- Sleep disturbances
- Anxiety
- Depression
Find a Clinic Near You
Research Locations NearbySelect from list below to view details:
UW Medicine Primary Care at NorthgateSeattle, WA
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Who Is Running the Clinical Trial?
University of WashingtonLead Sponsor
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)Collaborator
References
Acupuncture in Multidisciplinary Treatment for Post-COVID-19 Syndrome. [2022]Post-COVID syndrome (PCS) is a complex, multisystem illness that may follow SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 infection. As there is limited evidence for individual therapies and no singular treatment for PCS, guidelines endorse a multidisciplinary approach. This is a case report of a patient with PCS benefiting from a comprehensive approach including acupuncture with symptom-titrated physical activity (STPA).
The effect of acupuncture on the quality of life of patients recovering from COVID-19: A systematic review protocol. [2022]Assessing the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture therapy for treating patients with COVID-19 is the main purpose of this systematic review protocol.
The efficacy of acupuncture for improving the side effects of COVID-19 western medicine treatments: A protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis. [2022]Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an acute respiratory infectious disease, which is pandemic, infectious, and high mortality. Many commonly discussed medications being used to treat COVID-19 are not without potentially harmful side effects such as heart, liver, kidney problems, or other clinical symptoms. Acupuncture is a nonpharmacological method. When a needle is inserted into an acupuncture point, traumatic physical stimulation occurs, and then the neuroendocrine immune regulation network is activated. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture for improving the side effects of COVID-19 western medicine treatments.
Multi-effective characteristics and advantages of acupuncture in COVID-19 treatment. [2023]Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a major disease that threatens human life and health. Its pathogenesis is complex and still not fully clarified. The clinical treatment is mainly supportive and lacks specific treatment methods. Acupuncture treatment can inhibit immune inflammatory reactions, neuroinflammatory reactions, oxidative stress levels, and hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity, improve lung function, and relieve migraine, fatigue, anxiety, and depression. However, whether acupuncture treatment is suitable for treating these symptoms in patients with COVID-19 still needs to be investigated. For this review, the literature was systematically searched for multiple databases to summarize the mechanisms of acupuncture treatment for COVID-19-related symptoms and complications. A complex network analysis of acupoints and symptoms was also performed to clarify acupoint selection in the acupuncture treatment of symptoms related to COVID-19. The evidence indicates that acupuncture can improve the respiratory, digestive, nervous, and mental and psychological symptoms related to COVID-19 by inhibiting immune inflammatory reactions, regulating intestinal flora, mitochondrial function, oxidative stress level, cardiomyocyte apoptosis, neurotransmitter release, and HPA axis activity, and alleviating basic diseases such as diseases of the vascular system. Acupuncture can improve various clinical and concomitant symptoms of COVID-19; however, its mechanism of action is complex and requires further study.
Medical Acupuncture as a Treatment for Novel COVID-19-Related Respiratory Distress: Personal Experience from a Frontline Anesthesiologist. [2022]Background: COVID-19 leads to significant respiratory distress among many other multiorgan dysfunctions. Depending on severity of symptoms, current treatment in the United States for COVID-19 consists of supportive care, including, but not limited to, supplemental oxygen, antipyretic drugs, pain killers, and mechanical ventilation. Case Description: This case reports a previously healthy anesthesiologist and medical acupuncturist working in a New York City COVID intensive care unit who contracted and was diagnosed with COVID-19 virus. She subsequently developed self-diagnosed acutely symptomatic COVID pneumonia, including symptoms of pleuritic chest pain, hypoxia with shortness of breath, increased respiratory rate, dry cough, orthostatic hypotension, and headache. She self-treated with cupping therapy at the onset of symptoms and medical acupuncture at the onset of pulmonary symptoms to full recovery. Conclusions: Acupuncture should be considered as a viable adjunct in supportive care for patients with symptomatic COVID-19 pneumonia.
Safety of Acupuncture: Overview of Systematic Reviews. [2022]Acupuncture is increasingly used worldwide. It is becoming more accepted by both patients and healthcare providers. However, the current understanding of its adverse events (AEs) is fragmented. We conducted this overview to collect all systematic reviews (SRs) on the AEs of acupuncture and related therapies. MEDLINE and EMBASE were searched from inception to December 2015. Methodological quality of included reviews was assessed with a validated instrument. Evidence was narratively reported. Seventeen SRs covering various types of acupuncture were included. Methodological quality of the reviews was overall mediocre. Four major categories of AEs were identified, which are organ or tissue injuries (13 reviews, median: 36 cases, median deaths: 4), infections (11 reviews, median: 17 cases, median deaths: 0.5), local AEs or reactions (12 reviews, median: 8.5 cases, no deaths were reported), and other complications such as dizziness or syncope (11 reviews, median: 21 cases, no deaths were reported). Minor and serious AEs can occur during the use of acupuncture and related modalities, contrary to the common impression that acupuncture is harmless. Serious AEs are rare, but need significant attention as mortality can be associated with them. Referrals should consider acupuncturists' training credibility, and patient safety should be a core part of acupuncture education.
Acupuncture-related adverse events: a systematic review of the Chinese literature. [2022]to systematically review the Chinese-language literature on acupuncture-related adverse events.
Adverse events associated with acupuncture: three multicentre randomized controlled trials of 1968 cases in China. [2021]In order to evaluate the safety of acupuncture in China objectively, we investigated the adverse events associated with acupuncture based on three multicentre randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to assess the safety of acupuncture, identifying the common types of acupuncture adverse events, and analysing the related risk factors for their occurrence.
Acupuncture-related adverse events: systematic review and meta-analyses of prospective clinical studies. [2021]Overview on risks of acupuncture-related adverse events (AEs).
Adverse events of acupuncture: a systematic review of case reports. [2022]Acupuncture, moxibustion, and cupping, important in traditional Eastern medicine, are increasingly used in the West. Their widening acceptance demands continual safety assessment. This review, a sequel to one our team published 10 years ago, is an evaluation of the frequency and severity of adverse events (AEs) reported for acupuncture, moxibustion, and cupping between 2000 and 2011. Relevant English-language reports in six databases were identified and assessed by two reviewers. During this 12-year period, 117 reports of 308 AEs from 25 countries and regions were associated with acupuncture (294 cases), moxibustion (4 cases), or cupping (10 cases). Country of occurrence, patient's sex and age, and outcome were extracted. Infections, mycobacterial, staphylococcal, and others, were the main complication of acupuncture. In the previous review, we found the main source of infection to be hepatitis, caused by reusable needles. In this review, we found the majority of infections to be bacterial, caused by skin contact at acupoint sites; we found no cases of hepatitis. Although the route of infection had changed, infections were still the major complication of acupuncture. Clearly, guidelines such as Clean Needle Technique must be followed in order to minimize acupuncture AEs.
[Comparison of different schools of hand acupuncture therapies]. [2021]The historical origin of hand acupuncture therapies were collected. The positioning method, acupuncture manipulation and dominant diseases, etc. were compared among 8 kinds of extensively used hand acupuncture schools, such as traditional hand acupuncture, Korean finger needle and Fang's hand image needle. It is found that the positioning method and needling method are not unified and the dominant diseases not specified. In the future study, the regimen of hand acupuncture should be optimized, the optimal holographic image, acupuncture manipulation and quantitative standards should be developed and the integration among schools should be promoted so that the relevant specifications can be formulated, national standards be developed and the application and development of hand acupuncture therapy be promoted.
Acupuncture for postoperative pain in laparoscopic surgery: a systematic review protocol. [2019]This review aims to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for patients with postoperative pain after laparoscopic surgery.
[Effectiveness of acupuncture analgesia in the treatment of chronic post-traumatic pain syndromes]. [2011]The present work is dedicated to the study of the acupuncture analgesia efficiency in ambulatory practice in treatment of chronic post-traumatic pain syndrome as well as the comparative characteristics of the acupuncture analgesia and electric analgesia in treatment of this pathology. There have been analyzed the results of treatment of the pain syndrome after the traumata of the lower limbs by the IRT method (106 patients), compared the terms and the results of the treatment by the above mentioned methods as well as by the separate acupuncture analgesia and electro-analgesia methods. As a result, it should be noted that the IRT method is more effective in treatment of the chronic pain syndrome as compared with the common traditional methods. The electroanalgesia method, in turn, contributes to more rapid pain soothing and restoration of the vegetative and trophic functions than acupuncture.
Acupuncture-Induced Cranial Epidural Abscess: Case Report and Review of the Literature. [2020]Acupuncture is a common form of alternative medicine that is used for pain control among other modalities of treatment. It is a relatively safe procedure, but complications, including those of infectious etiology, may still occur.
A combination of electroacupuncture and auricular acupuncture for postoperative pain after abdominal surgery for gynaecological diseases: A randomized controlled trial. [2022]Postoperative pain following laparotomy for gynaecological diseases is a common problem that requires effective management to ensure patient satisfaction and recovery. Despite the wide use of acupuncture for pain management, knowledge of its efficacy in managing postoperative pain is limited. Previous literature used either acupuncture or auricular acupuncture alone. However, the combined use of acupuncture and auricular acupuncture have not been studied yet.