title: Acupuncture at local and distant points for tinnitus: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Tinnitus is the perception of a sound in the absence of an objective physical source. Up to now, there is no generally accepted view how these phantom sounds come about, and also no efficient treatment. Patients are turning to complementary or alternative medical therapies, such as acupuncture. Based on the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, acupoints located on both the adjacent and distal area of the disease can be needled to treat disease. Furthermore, the way of combining acupoints is for strengthening the curative effect. We aim to evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture at local points in combination with distal points in subjective tinnitus patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  This trial is a randomized, single-blind, controlled study. A total of 112 participants will be randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups receiving acupuncture treatment for 4 weeks. The primary outcome measure is subjective tinnitus loudness and annoyance perception, which is graded using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). The assessment is at baseline (before treatment initiation), 4 weeks after the first acupuncture session, and 8 weeks after the first acupuncture session.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Completion of this trial will help to identify whether acupuncture at local acupoints in combination with distal acupoints may be more effective than needling points separately.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number Register: ISRCTN29230777.
authors.affiliation: Acupuncture and Moxibustion Department, Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine affiliated to Capital Medical University, 23 Meishuguanhou Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing 100010, China.
authors.forename: Guang-Xia
authors.initials: GX
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Li-Li
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Li-Ying
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Qian-Qian
authors.initials: QQ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Cun-Zhi
authors.initials: CZ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Lin-Peng
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D015669:Acupuncture Points; D015670:Acupuncture Therapy; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D006801:Humans; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D014012:Tinnitus / Q000628:therapy*