Acupuncture for Symptomatic Treatment of Fatigue in Parkinson's Disease: Trial Design and Implementation.

Acupuncture use is increasing worldwide for many conditions, including movement disorders. Clinical research in acupuncture has also increased to test anecdotal reports of clinical benefits empirically and investigate potential mechanisms. This article describes considerations for designing a double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial of acupuncture for fatigue in Parkinson's disease (PD) and describes the current authors' experience in the implementation and early conduct of this trial.

Randomized, Controlled Trial of Acupuncture for Fatigue in Parkinson's Disease.

Background: Fatigue is a common and debilitating nonmotor symptom of PD. Because preliminary evidence suggests that acupuncture improves fatigue in other conditions, we sought to test its efficacy in PD.

Methods: Ninety-four PD patients with moderate-to-high fatigue were randomized to receive 6 weeks of biweekly real or sham acupuncture.