Skin Surface's Temperature Changes When Auricular Acupressure at Cervical Vertebra Acupoints in Healthy Volunteers

Overview

Auricular acupressure is one of the acupuncture techniques on the ear, which is a method of impacting on acupoints with force and without using needles to help diagnose and treat physical and psychosomatic dysfunctions. Some studies prove that the acupoints on the pinna have a corresponding relationship with the areas of the body, and when acting on the acupoints can change the temperature of the corresponding area. Chronic neck pain is closely related to the decline in subcutaneous microcirculation, where heat transfer from deep within the body to the surface of the skin is carried out by the dermal vascular system. When blood flow through the venous network is high, heat is carried from the deep to the skin and vice versa. Therefore, to understand the role of cervical vertebra acupoints in neck pain, the study wants to demonstrate the correlation when auricular acupressure at cervical vertebra acupoints and the skin surface temperature of the neck area.

Participants and Methods: A randomized controlled trial is conducted by surveying the change in temperature in the neck area respectively when auricular acupressure is applied to the left and right cervical vertebra acupoints compared with the sham auricular acupressure group in each side of the ear in healthy volunteers. A total of 60 participants were randomly assigned to 2 groups (A and B) and the allocation was 1:1. In group A: participants received sham auricular acupressure at the left AH13 acupoint (left cervical vertebra) of the ear and auricular acupressure after 1 week. In group B: participants received sham auricular acupressure at the right AH13 acupoint (right cervical vertebra) of the ear and auricular acupressure after 1 week. The primary outcome was change in temperature in the neck area respectively when auricular acupressure is applied to the left and right cervical vertebra acupoints compared with the sham auricular acupressure group. This trial will be performed as randomized, controlled, and single blinded.