Acupuncture: an evaluation in the painful crises of sickle cell anaemia.

An evaluation of acupuncture for pain relief was made in 10 patients with sickle cell anaemia during 16 pain crises. A model was developed in which the patient served as his own control and in which both patient and examiner were unaware of whether an acupuncture point or a sham site was treated. The results show (1) that pain relief was obtained in 15 of the 16 painful episodes regardless of whether an acupuncture point or a sham site was treated, demonstrating considerable overlap between the effects of needling acupuncture points and sham sites; (2) that needling at acupuncture points for pain relief is not significantly superior to treatment at sham sites; (3) that needling, per se, whether at acupuncture points of at sham sites can be useful for alleviating pain in sickle cell crises.