German Randomized Acupuncture Trial for chronic shoulder pain (GRASP) – A pragmatic, controlled, patient-blinded, multi-centre trial in an outpatient care environment

Abstract

In the ITT (n=424) analysis, percentages of responders for the primary endpoint were verum 65% (95% CI 56-74%) (n=100), sham 24% (95% CI 9-39%) (n=32), and COT 37% (95% CI 24-50%) (n=50); secondary endpoint: verum 68% (95% CI 58-77%) (n=92), sham 40% (95% CI 27-53%) (n=53), and COT 28% (95% CI 14-42%) (n=38). The results are significant for verum over sham and verum over COT (p<0.01) for both the primary and secondary endpoints. The PPP analysis of the primary (n=308) and secondary endpoints (n=360) yields similar responder results for verum over sham and verum over COT (p<0.01). Descriptive statistics showed greater improvement of shoulder mobility (abduction and arm-above-head test) for the verum group versus the control group immediately after treatment and after 3 months. The trial indicates that Chinese acupuncture is an effective alternative to conventional orthopaedic treatment for CSP.

Randomised Controlled Trial of Contralateral Manual Acupuncture for the Relief of Chronic Shoulder Pain

“…Patients recruited in the present study had a mean VAS score of 63.9 and mean pain duration of 8.4 months, both of which are typical of chronic shoulder pain and comparable to previous studies. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] Based on both traditional Chinese medical literature 20 and clinical practice, the acupuncture protocol consisted of a set of acupuncture points located on the opposite side of the body to the pain. This is very different from previous acupuncture trials on shoulder pain, which have used acupuncture points close to the shoulder [8][9][10] or a combination of local and distal/contralateral acupuncture points.…”

“…Chronic shoulder pain is considered to be one of the symptoms most amenable to acupuncture treatment. Several randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have investigated the effects of acupuncture for the treatment of shoulder pain, with different combinations of acupuncture points, treatment protocols and methods of needle stimulation, [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] all of which potentially influence the therapeutic outcome of acupuncture treatment. [15][16][17][18][19] While most acupuncture trials have involved acupuncture needling close to the site of pathology, with or without addition of distal or contralateral acupuncture points, many Chinese medical practitioners purely use acupuncture points contralateral to the site of pain to treat unilateral limb pain, such as that arising from the shoulder or leg.…”

Effectiveness of Acupuncture and Infrared Therapies for Reducing Musculoskeletal Pain in the Elderly

“…Hal ini sesuai dengan penelitian yang dilakukan oleh Molsberger et al, (2010) dan penelitian Itoh et al, (2014) bahwa terapi akupunktur dapat menurunkan nilai VAS lebih baik dibandingkan dengan pemberian terapi orthopedic dalam meringankan nyari bahu. Hal yang sama juga disampaikan dalam Coeytaux and Garland (2013) bahwa terapi akupunktur sangat baik untuk menangani berbagai macam nyeri terutama nyeri kronis.…”

Possible dialogue between acupuncture, nursing and modulation of pain: assistance experience report

“…In a study of twenty-four women who worked in office and had shoulder pain associated with neck pain and headaches, proper acupuncture treatment has shown the potential to reduce chronic pain in the neck and shoulders and related headache and lasted by up to three years [18] . Walking this way, the Chinese acupuncture is considered a good alternative for the orthopedic treatment of chronic shoulder pain [19] .…”