Change Temperature of Skin Surface at the Acupuncture Site, the Neck and the Face When Using Tonifying Acupuncture Manipulations or Dispersing Acupuncture Manipulations at Dazhui in Healthy Volunteers
Condition: Healthy Volunteers
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Acupuncture is a treatment method since ancient times and it has been recognized as an
      international treatment method by the World Health Organization. Although the structure and
      physiological effects of acupoints have been extensively studied, they have not been fully
      elucidated. A lot of studies on physiological effects of acupoints on the 12 main merdians
      have been published, but acupoints outside the meridians or acupoints on the eight
      extraordinary vessels have not been noticed. In particular, the Dazhui is one of the
      acupoints on the Du Merdian that is often used clinically. In the other side, several
      researches have shown that using different acupuncture manipulations can achieve different
      therapeutic effects. In our study, we want to determinate and compare the change temperature
      of skin surface at the acupuncture site, the neck and the face when using tonifying
      acupuncture manipulations or dispersing acupuncture manipulations at Dazhui in healthy
      volunteers.
    

Detailed description: 
      Participants and Methods: A pilot study is conducted by comparing the change in skin surface
      temperature before and after using sham or tonifying or dispersing acupuncture manipulations
      at EX-B2 T3 in right side and Dazhui in heatlhy volunteers. A total of 57 participants will
      be randomly divided into 3 groups (group STD, group TDS and group DST). Each group has 19
      participants and undergo 3 trial phases, corresponding to 3 times of acupuncture in 14 days,
      each time is 7 days apart. For group STD, the first trial phase: participants received
      acupuncture at EX-B2 T3 point in right side as sham acupuncture; the second trial phase:
      participants received acupuncture with tonifying manipulations at Dazhui point and tonifying
      manipulations was replaced by dispersing ones in the third trial phase. For group TDS, the
      first trial phase: participants received acupuncture with tonifying manipulations at Dazhui
      point; the second trial phase: participants received acupuncture with dispersing
      manipulations at Dazhui point and participants received acupuncture at EX-B2 T3 point in
      right side as sham acupuncture in the third trial phase. Similarly, for group DST, the first
      trial phase: participants received acupuncture with dispersing manipulations at Dazhui point;
      the second trial phase: participants received acupuncture at EX-B2 T3 point in right side as
      sham acupuncture and sham acupuncture was replaced byacupuncture with tonifying manipulations
      at Dazhui in the third trial phase. The primary outcome was the change temperature of skin
      surface at the acupuncture site, the neck and the face when using tonifying or dispersing
      acupuncture manipulations at Dazhui point. This trial will be performed as a pilot study.
    

Intervention name(s): Acupuncture
Intervention type(s): Procedure
Intervention description(s): To conduct this intervention, we used disposable acupuncture needles with the size of 0.30 x 25 mm to acupuncture the sham acupoint (EX-B2 T3 point) or Dazhui point.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Single Group Assignment
Intervention model description: A pilot study
Masking: Single (Participant)
Primary purpose: Basic Science
Keywords: Acupuncture Manipulations; Tonifying Acupuncture Manipulations; Dispersing Acupuncture Manipulations