None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Our primary hypothesis is that electroacupuncture (EA), as a supplementary therapy to stardard care, that is pain medication management (PMM), can effectively reduce the use of opioid medications (OMs) in the management of chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP). About the problem: Seventeen (17%) to 20% of Australians suffer from chronic pain, with the majority of them having CMP. Moderate to severe CMP has been increasingly managed with OM. In Australia, in 1999, 13% of chronic pain patients were using some type of OMs. Since then, the consumption of some OMs has increased by 5 to 40 times. About the use of OMs: Although short-term benefit of OMs for CMP has been demonstrated, its long-term use is a problem. Studies have shown that chronic pain patients who are on long-term OMs, experience more severe pain, poorer quality of life, and are more likely to have adopted passive pain coping strategies. Thus, effective measures that reduce the OM use and OM related adverse effects are urgently needed. About EA and its benefit: Animal and human studies have shown that EA not only increases the release of endogenous opioids, but also help our body to use opioid medications more efficiently. Our pilot study (Zheng et al, EJP, 2008) demonstrated that real EA, when combined with PMM, reduced the OM consumption more effectively than sham EA did. The proposed research will employ an adequate sample size with an additional no-EA group to determine the benefit and safety of EA for the reduction of OM consumption by subjects with CMP.
Interventions
Electrical acupuncture will be applied to the arms and legs. During the treatment, electrical current delivered with a battery-operated eletrical stimulator is combined with acupuncture needle techniques to enhance stimulation of the acupuncture points. Each treatment session takes 25 to 30 minutes. The treatment will be given twice a week for four weeks followed by once a week for two weeks then once every two weeks for four weeks. In total, 12 sessions are delivered within 10 weeks.
Partici
Electrical acupuncture will be applied to the arms and legs. During the treatment, electrical current delivered with a battery-operated eletrical stimulator is combined with acupuncture needle techniques to enhance stimulation of the acupuncture points. Each treatment session takes 25 to 30 minutes. The treatment will be given twice a week for four weeks followed by once a week for two weeks then once every two weeks for four weeks. In total, 12 sessions are delivered within 10 weeks. Participants in this group will also receive pain and medication management (i.e., standard care).
Sponsors
Professor Charlie Xue
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Blinded (masking used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to 85 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
1) age between 18 and 85 years at entry; 2) confident in conversational and reading English; 3) suffering from chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP), regardless of the locations of pain; and 4) have taken opioid medication (OM) regularly for more than two months without dose limitation.
Exclusion criteria
1) active abuse of OM as judged by a medical doctor (MD); 2) severely depressed with suicidal tendency as judged by MDs; 3) unstable heart condition, pregnancy or intent to become pregnant, breast feeding women, epilepsy, brain tumor, current cancer, hemophilia or wearing cardiac pacemakers; 4) no general practitioner available for liaison; 5) acupuncture treatment in the last 12 months; or 6) unwilling to reduce OM.
Outcome results
None listed