What Is Sham Acupuncture?

What is Sham Acupuncture?

In all clinical trials to test acupuncture effectiveness, a sham acupuncture is constructed. What is sham acupuncture?

The term “sham” acupuncture is used to refer to procedures controlling for the designated acupuncture treatment components that are being evaluated.  In human clinical trials, the aim of sham acupuncture is usually to perform a “mock treatment” that the subject believes is an acupuncture treatment, but which in theory is missing all relevant needling and/or specific nonneedling components that are hypothesized to be active.  Examples of components that have been controlled for (alone or in combination) in clinical trials to date include needle location (e.g., use of nonacupuncture points or acupuncture points believed to be therapeutically irrelevant) , degree of needle insertion(e.g., no penetration or depths believed to be suboptimal), needle stimulation (e.g., no or suboptimal manual or electrical stimulation), and components of patient/practitioner interactions traditionally considered integral  to acupuncture therapy (e.g., limited palpation or restricted dialog related to traditional Chinese medicine).

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