Can self-care by means of contact needles gently applied to the skin relieve menstrual pain?

Abstract

The efficacy of complementary and alternative medicine to relieve menstrual pain so far has lacked adequate evidence. We conducted a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, comparative study in order to evaluate the efficacy of self-care by application of contact needles for menstrual pain relief. 19 women who experienced menstrual pain were randomly assigned to a contact needle or placebo needle group. Participants were allowed to settle contact or placebo needles on acupuncture points (BL37, BL55, and BL56) in their lower extremities on the first and second days of 4 menstrual cycles. The primary objective was the change in menstrual pain intensity, which was compared between the groups. In the 14 participants (contact needle group: n=8, placebo needle group: n=6) who completed the study, the mean change in menstrual pain was assessed by using a 100-mm Visual Analogue Scale: −17.31 mm in the contact needle group and -18.83 mm in the placebo needle group. There was no intergroup difference (p=0.87, Cohen’s d=0.09). Our findings suggest that self-care by contact needle therapy relieves menstrual pain. However, given that its effect on menstrual pain was equivalent to that of self-care by placebo needle therapy, the pain relief observed in this study is likely to have been due to non-specific effects, such as placebo effects and acupressure effects.