ArticleISRN Pain2013
Double-blind acupuncture needle: a potential tool to investigate the nature of pain and pleasure.
Article in ISRN Pain, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- A systematic review of sham acupuncture validation studies.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2024Pooled it
- Acupuncture Improves Multiple Treatment-Related Symptoms in Breast Cancer Survivors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.) · 2021Pooled it
- Acupuncture for neuropathic pain in adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2017Pooled it
- Sham Electroacupuncture Methods in Randomized Controlled Trials.Scientific reports · 2017Pooled it
- Long-lasting effect of penetrating acupuncture among responders: Double-blind RCT of acupuncture for vulvodynia.The journal of pain · 2026Trial
- Effect of Acupuncture for Chronic Nonspecific Low Back Pain: Study Protocol for a Randomized Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2026Article
- Acupuncture effects on emotional reactivity of youth with self-reported depressive symptoms.Psychoradiology · 2025Article
- Corrugator Muscle Activity Associated with Pressure Pain in Adults with Neck/Shoulder Pain.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2024Article
- Sensory and emotional responses to deep pressure stimulation at myofascial trigger points: a pilot study.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Article
- Double-blinding of an acupuncture randomized controlled trial optimized with clinical translational science award resources.Clinical trials (London, England) · 2020Article
- Double-blind acupuncture needles: a multi-needle, multi-session randomized feasibility study.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2018Article
- Preparation of Graphene-Modified Acupuncture Needle and Its Application in Detecting Neurotransmitters.Scientific reports · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMost of our knowledge about similarities in the neural processing of painful and pleasant sensations in the brain derives from studying each phenomenon separately. Patients often feel pain induced by acupuncture, which is noxious stimulation having the symbolic message of the cure, as pleasant.
objectivesWe investigated whether the double-blind acupuncture needles are potential tool to investigate coinciding pain and pleasant events.
methodsParticipants were 109 healthy acupuncture students. An acupuncturist applied the double-blind placebo and the matching penetrating needle at bilateral forearm of each subject, one needle on each side of the arm. We asked the subjects to rate the pain associated with needle application and its unpleasantness or pleasantness on a visual analogue scale.
resultsOf 65 penetrating needle applications that elicited pain, 29 (45%) subjects did not describe the pain as being unpleasant, and interestingly, 18 (28%) subjects described the needle insertion as pleasant. There was no significant difference in reported pain intensity between penetrating needles elicited pain that elicited a pleasant sensation and those that elicited an unpleasant sensation (
conclusionsThe double-blind acupuncture needles can be a potential tool for investigating the concomitant hedonic (pleasure) experience of pain.
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