Acupressure for Pain Management and Fatigue Relief in Gulf War Veterans

Summary

This study will provide symptomatic veterans with acupressure treatment and determine its effectiveness in fatigue relief and pain management for Gulf War Illness (GWI). Investigators plan to recruit patients reporting symptoms of GWI through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and randomize them into acupressure group (to receive acupressure treatment) and control group (to receive Reiki treatment). The acupressure treatment, twice per week for 6 weeks, will be offered by a licensed acupressure practitioner. Evaluations will be made before and after treatment (at 6 weeks). Clinical outcomes will be compared between groups (acupressure group vs. control group) and between different timepoints (before treatment vs. after treatment) within the same group.

The results of this study may provide useful information to develop more effective treatment for veterans with GWI disease. Since acupressure treatment is of Asian origin and has shown excellent promise within its Eastern traditions, if successful, this study has the potential to produce a paradigm shift in clinical practice to more effectively relieve the symptoms of veterans with GWI disease. Meanwhile, as a non-invasive therapeutic massage, acupressure may lend to better patient acceptance and ultimately, greater clinical accessibility.

Hypotheses

1. Acupressure besides routine clinical care will produce a more complete fatigue relief and pain alleviation in veterans with GWI versus routine clinical care plus reiki treatment.
2. EEG measures will exhibit a positive change when fatigue is relieved and pain is alleviated for symptomatic veterans after effective treatment.

Conditions

• Persian Gulf Syndrome
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Interventions

OTHER

Acupressure treatment.

Acupressure will be provided 40 min/day, 2 days/week for 6 weeks (total of 12 sessions). Symptomatic veterans will receive standardized acupressure treatment for \~5 s on each acupoint until the subject gets the sense of soreness and numbness, and the procedure will be repeated three times. Kneading massage will be applied around eyes and forehead, and face will be swabbed by palm for \~ 5 min. Manipulation of these acupoints is aimed at helping to calm and ease the subject, lighten headache and migraine, relieve fatigue, and alleviate insomnia.

OTHER

Reiki

Veterans in the control group will receive reiki treatment with the same dosage (40 min/session, 12 sessions in 6 wks). The practitioner will place his/her hands on the recipient in various positions covering head, the back of the torso, and the 4 limbs with fixed set of 12 hand positions. These covered areas will then be tapped and stroked, and practitioner will focus his/her gaze on these areas for 2-3 min, through which the healing energy is transferred to the subjects. In a format similar to acupressure treatment, it will be used as an inert control treatment to balance additional care the experimental group will receive.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• The Cleveland Clinic

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Vernon W Lin, MD PhD · The Cleveland Clinic

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

70 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2012-09-30

Primary Completion

2017-10-31

Completion

2017-10-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations