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Battlefield Acupressure for Acute Back Pain Management in the Emergency Department

NCT07771686 · Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 50

Last updated 2026-08-18

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Patients frequently present to the emergency department for treatment of acute pain. In the emergency department, analgesic medications, particularly opiates, are most often the primary and only means of treatment. Alternative therapies such as traditional acupuncture have been studied and utilized in acute care settings; however, the need for extensive training, the use of needles, and state-specific acupuncture licensing requirements have been barriers to widespread use. Battlefield Auricular Acupressure (BAA) is a needle-free five-point technique on the outer ear that has been developed and employed by the military for a variety of painful conditions.

The primary objective of this study is to determine if battlefield auricular acupressure (BAA), compared to a sham procedure, results in a reduction in pain score at 30 minutes and 60 minutes post-intervention, by at least 2 Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) points below their baseline pain score, compared to participants receiving a sham procedure, for adults who present to the emergency department with a chief complaint of back pain and/or low back.

Conditions

  • Acute Back Pain

Interventions

PROCEDURE

Battlefield auricular acupressure

Battlefield auricular acupressure: Ear seeds will be applied to the five established BAA points: Cingulate Gyrus, Thalamus, Omega 2, Point Zero, and Shen Men.

PROCEDURE

Sham

Ear seeds will be applied to five pre-defined, non-therapeutic points on the ear helix and lobe, chosen for their lack of known effect on pain. The procedure will be identical in duration and interaction to the BAA group.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • New Jersey Health Foundation

    collaborator OTHER

  • Hackensack Meridian Health

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Biren Bhatt, MD · Hackensack Meridian Health

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
DOUBLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2026-09-10
Primary Completion
2028-09-10
Completion
2028-09-10

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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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 NCT07771686 on ClinicalTrials.gov