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Obstetrics and gynaecology
Research
Acupuncture point injection treatment of primary dysmenorrhoea: a randomised, double blind, controlled study
  1. C Wade1,2,
  2. L Wang3,
  3. W J Zhao3,
  4. F Cardini4,
  5. F Kronenberg1,5,
  6. S Q Gui3,
  7. Z Ying6,
  8. N Q Zhao7,
  9. M T Chao1,8,
  10. J Yu3
  1. 1Richard & Hinda Rosenthal Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Research, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA
  2. 2Institute of East West Medicine, New York, New York, USA
  3. 3Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, Shanghai, China
  4. 4Agenzia Sanitaria e Sociale Regionale dell'Emilia Romagna, (Healthcare and Social Agency of Emilia Romagna Region), Viale Aldo Moro, 21, 40127 Bologna, Italy
  5. 5Department of Anesthesiology, Pain and Perioperative Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California, USA
  6. 6Department of Statistics, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA
  7. 7Department of Statistics, School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, Shanghai, China
  8. 8Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
  1. Correspondence to C Wade; wade{at}columbia.edu

Abstract

Objective To determine if injection of vitamin K3 in an acupuncture point is optimal for the treatment of primary dysmenorrhoea, when compared with 2 other injection treatments.

Setting A Menstrual Disorder Centre at a public hospital in Shanghai, China.

Participants Chinese women aged 14–25 years with severe primary dysmenorrhoea for at least 6 months not relieved by any other treatment were recruited. Exclusion criteria were the use of oral contraceptives, intrauterine devices or anticoagulant drugs, pregnancy, history of abdominal surgery, participation in other therapies for pain and diagnosis of secondary dysmenorrhoea. Eighty patients with primary dysmenorrhoea, as defined on a 4-grade scale, completed the study. Two patients withdrew after randomisation.

Interventions A double-blind, double-dummy, randomised controlled trial compared vitamin K3 acupuncture point injection to saline acupuncture point injection and vitamin K3 deep muscle injection. Patients in each group received 3 injections at a single treatment visit.

Primary and secondary outcome measures The primary outcome was the difference in subjective perception of pain as measured by an 11 unit Numeric Rating Scale (NRS). Secondary measurements were Cox Pain Intensity and Duration scales and the consumption of analgesic tablets before and after treatment and during 6 following cycles.

Results Patients in all 3 groups experienced pain relief from the injection treatments. Differences in NRS measured mean pain scores between the 2 active control groups were less than 1 unit (−0.71, CI −1.37 to −0.05) and not significant, but the differences in average scores between the treatment hypothesised to be optimal and both active control groups (1.11, CI 0.45 to 1.78) and (1.82, CI 1.45 to 2.49) were statistically significant in adjusted mixed-effects models. Menstrual distress and use of analgesics were diminished for 6 months post-treatment.

Conclusions Acupuncture point injection of vitamin K3 relieves menstrual pain rapidly and is a useful treatment in an urban outpatient clinic.

Trial registration number NCT00104546; Results.

  • pain
  • dysmenorrhea
  • acupuncture
  • vitamin k
  • menstruation

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2015-008166

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