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Does acupuncture needling induce analgesic effects comparable to diffuse noxious inhibitory controls?
Juerg Schliessbach1, Eveline van der Klift, Andreas Siegenthaler
1University Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Therapy, Inselspital Bern, 3010 Bern, Switzerland.
Summary
Acupuncture provided a small analgesic effect, similar to placebo, and less than a DNIC-like response. Diffuse noxious inhibitory control (DNIC) may not be the primary mechanism for acupuncture analgesia.
Area of Science:
- Pain research
- Neuroscience
- Complementary medicine
Background:
- Diffuse noxious inhibitory control (DNIC) is a potential mechanism for acupuncture analgesia.
- Understanding acupuncture's analgesic effects requires comparison with placebo and DNIC-inducing stimuli.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the analgesic effect of non-penetrating acupuncture.
- To compare acupuncture's effect with nonpenetrating sham acupuncture (NPSA) and cold-pressor-induced DNIC.
Main Methods:
- Forty-five subjects underwent randomized acupuncture, NPSA, and DNIC interventions.
- Analgesic effect was measured by pressure pain detection threshold (PPDT) using pressure algometry.
- PPDT was assessed before and after each intervention.
Main Results:
- Acupuncture and NPSA showed no significant difference in PPDT increase.
- The DNIC test resulted in a significantly higher PPDT increase compared to acupuncture and NPSA.
- PPDT remained stable after acupuncture and NPSA but decreased after DNIC.
Conclusions:
- Acupuncture at low intensity has a minimal analgesic effect, comparable to placebo.
- Acupuncture's analgesic effect is significantly less than a DNIC-like response from a painful stimulus.
- DNIC may not be the sole or primary mechanism for acupuncture analgesia.
