Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26064153›Full record

ArticleEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2015

Is Skin-Touch Sham Needle Not Placebo? A Double-Blind Crossover Study on Pain Alleviation.

Miho Takayama, Hiroyoshi Yajima, Akiko Kawase, Ikuo Homma, Masahiko Izumizaki, Nobuari Takakura

Open access · hybridAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
0.8field-weighted citation impact, top 29% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 9 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Miho TakayamaDepartment of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Faculty of Health Sciences, Tokyo Ariake University of Medical and Health Sciences, 2-9-1 Ariake, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-0063, Japan ; Department of Physiology, Showa University School of Medicine, 1-5-8 Hatanodai, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 142-8555, Japan ; Japan School of Acupuncture, Moxibustion and Physiotherapy, 20-1 Sakuragaokacho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0031, Japan ; The Foundation for Oriental Medicine Research, 28-9 Sakuragaokacho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0031, Japan.ORCID 0000-0002-5477-1711
Hiroyoshi YajimaDepartment of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Faculty of Health Sciences, Tokyo Ariake University of Medical and Health Sciences, 2-9-1 Ariake, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-0063, Japan ; Department of Physiology, Showa University School of Medicine, 1-5-8 Hatanodai, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 142-8555, Japan ; Japan School of Acupuncture, Moxibustion and Physiotherapy, 20-1 Sakuragaokacho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0031, Japan ; The Foundation for Oriental Medicine Research, 28-9 Sakuragaokacho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0031, Japan.ORCID 0000-0003-4843-2868
Akiko KawaseDepartment of Physiology, Showa University School of Medicine, 1-5-8 Hatanodai, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 142-8555, Japan ; Japan School of Acupuncture, Moxibustion and Physiotherapy, 20-1 Sakuragaokacho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0031, Japan ; The Foundation for Oriental Medicine Research, 28-9 Sakuragaokacho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0031, Japan.ORCID 0000-0002-3600-9029
Ikuo HommaDepartment of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Faculty of Health Sciences, Tokyo Ariake University of Medical and Health Sciences, 2-9-1 Ariake, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-0063, Japan ; Department of Physiology, Showa University School of Medicine, 1-5-8 Hatanodai, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 142-8555, Japan ; The Foundation for Oriental Medicine Research, 28-9 Sakuragaokacho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0031, Japan.
Masahiko IzumizakiDepartment of Physiology, Showa University School of Medicine, 1-5-8 Hatanodai, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 142-8555, Japan.
Nobuari TakakuraDepartment of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Faculty of Health Sciences, Tokyo Ariake University of Medical and Health Sciences, 2-9-1 Ariake, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-0063, Japan ; Department of Physiology, Showa University School of Medicine, 1-5-8 Hatanodai, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 142-8555, Japan ; Japan School of Acupuncture, Moxibustion and Physiotherapy, 20-1 Sakuragaokacho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0031, Japan ; The Foundation for Oriental Medicine Research, 28-9 Sakuragaokacho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0031, Japan.ORCID 0000-0002-4657-9893
Showa University · JP

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

It remains an open question whether placebo/sham acupuncture, in which the needle tip presses the skin, can be used as a placebo device for research on pain. We compare the analgesic effect of the skin-touch placebo needle with that of the no-touch placebo needle, in which the needle tip does not touch the skin, in a double-blind crossover manner including no-treatment control in 23 healthy volunteers. The subjects received painful electrical stimulation in the forearm before and during needle retention to the LI 4 acupoint and after the removal of the needle and rated pain intensity using a visual analogue scale. We found no significant difference in analgesic effects among the skin-touch placebo needle, no-touch placebo needle, and no-treatment control at every point before, during, and after the treatments (p > 0.05). The results indicate that the skin-touch placebo needle can be used as a placebo device in clinical studies on pain.

Identifiers

PMID26064153
PMCPMC4439487
OpenAlexW1588787165

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.