Placebo response varies between different types of sham acupuncture: A randomized double‐blind trial in neck pain patients

Abstract

This study compared the observed specific and nonspecific analgesia effect in four different types of sham acupuncture stimulation with neck pain patients, assessed by four outcomes. Although all of the sham controls produced significant reduction in neck pain, electroacupuncture had superior significant improvement. Importantly, placebo responses differed significantly between the sham controls and responses were inconsistent according to different outcome assessments. This study emphasizes the importance of taking into consideration which sham control and method of outcome measurement were used in a pain research study when evaluating its results.