Most randomised-controlled trials of acupuncture use penetrating sham acupuncture as control intervention. Sham acupuncture is described as acupuncture at points which are not known as acupuncture points. Because of physiological changes due to skin penetration sham acupuncture should not be defined as placebo control. In 1998 a new placebo needle was introduced by Streitberger. This placebo ne...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Ultrasound-guided cervical periradicular steroid injection (US-CPSI) is an attractive alternate to conventional C-arm guided transforaminal epidural injection for treatment of cervical radicular pain. We compared the technical differences and clinical outcomes between these two techniques. METHODS Following ultrasound-guided needle placement, the extent of contrast m...

BACKGROUND Placebo needles that can mask acupuncture practitioners to the type of needle used have been considered almost impossible to develop until now. METHODS We designed a double-blind non-penetrating placebo needle, the needle tip of which simply presses against the skin, and a matched penetrating needle. The needles are encased inside an opaque guide tube and the appearance and feel of...

Liquid jet injections have been performed on human skin in vivo and silicone rubber using Intraject needle-free injectors. The discharge characteristics of the liquid jet were measured using a custom-built test instrument. The experiments reveal that a high-speed liquid jet penetrates a soft solid by the formation and opening of a planar crack. The fluid stagnation pressure required for skin pe...

BACKGROUND Transforaminal epidural steroid injections (TFESI) are a mainstay in the treatment of spine pain. Though this commonly performed procedure is generally felt to be safe, devastating complications following inadvertent intra-arterial injections of particulate steroid have been reported. The use of digital subtraction angiography (DSA) has been suggested as a means of detecting intra-ar...

During acupuncture some patients experience distinct sensations which are often referred to as needle sensation. Needle sensation may be related to treatment outcome, although what constitutes adequate acupuncture needle sensation is not known. In this paper, we debate the possibility of using the self-report of the overall intensity of needle sensation as a predictor of analgesic outcome to ac...