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Enhancing Acupuncture Treatment Effect Through Non-invasive Neuromodulation

NCT03716830 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 116

Last updated 2025-11-05

Study results available
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Summary

In this study, investigators will examine the brain mechanism behind the synergistic effects of combining acupuncture and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) treatments. Specifically, chronic low back pain (cLBP) patients will be recruited and randomized to one of four groups (30 per group, one month of treatment): 1) verum acupuncture + real tDCS, 2) sham acupuncture + real tDCS, 3) verum acupuncture + sham tDCS, and 4) sham acupuncture + sham tDCS. Investigators will study 1) the longitudinal (one-month) effects of different treatments as indicated by changes in resting state functional connectivity (rsFC), cerebral blood flow (CBF), clinical outcomes of low back pain, and quantitative sensory test (QST) and 2) the association between these changes.

Conditions

Interventions

DEVICE

verum acupuncture

Participants will receive real acupuncture treatment.

DEVICE

sham acupuncture

Participants will receive sham acupuncture treatment.

DEVICE

real tDCS

Participants will receive real transcranial direct current stimulation.

DEVICE

sham tDCS

Participants will receive sham transcranial direct current stimulation.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Massachusetts General Hospital

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
DOUBLE
Model
FACTORIAL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
60 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2020-11-07
Primary Completion
2025-01-31
Completion
2025-03-31

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Entities

Diseases

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT03716830 on ClinicalTrials.gov