NCT05665426

Infrared Thermography-based Study of the Warming Effect Difference at Waist

Completed NA Results posted Last updated 1 October 2025

What this trial tests

NA trial testing acupuncture in Health in 140 participants. Completed in 25 June 2023.

Timeline

14 April 2023

Primary endpoint
25 June 2023

25 June 2023

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	The Third Affiliated hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University
Phase	NA
Status	Completed
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	parallel
Masking	double
Primary purpose	treatment
Enrollment	140
Start date	14 April 2023
Primary completion	25 June 2023
Estimated completion	25 June 2023
Sites	1 location across China

Drugs / interventions tested

• acupuncture — full drug profile →
• moxibustion

Conditions studied

• Health — all drugs for Health →

Sponsor

The Third Affiliated hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University

Who can join

Adults 18 to 60, any sex, with Health. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Results — posted to ClinicalTrials.gov

Per-arm endpoint measurements with 95% confidence intervals where reported. Source: trial results section.

ΔT at the Waist Between 30 Minutes and the Baseline. Primary · 30 minutes after the intervention has begin

The temperature difference (ΔT)at the waist between 30 minutes and the baseline.

Group	Value	95% CI
AW Group	0.71	± 0.67
AC Group	0.42	± 0.60
MW Group	0.43	± 0.60
MC Group	0.49	± 0.65

δT of The Maximum Temperature in the Designated Area of the Waist After 30 Minutes. Secondary · 30 minutes after the intervention has begin

The change temperature (δT) of The maximum temperature in the designated area of the waist after 30 minutes.

Group	Value	95% CI
AW Group	0.57	0.37 – 0.77
AC Group	0.41	0.21 – 0.60
MW Group	0.41	0.23 – 0.59
MC Group	0.48	0.31 – 0.66

The Temperature at the Waist Between 5 ,10 ,15 ,20 ,25, 30 Minutes and Baseline. Secondary · 5 minutes,10 minutes,15 minutes,20 minutes,25 minutes , 30 minutes after the intervention has begin

The temperature between 5 minutes,10 minutes,15 minutes,20 minutes ,25 minutes, 30 minutes and baseline.

baseline

Group	Value	95% CI
AW Group	34.06	± 0.8
AC Group	34.07	± 0.88
MW Group	34.16	± 0.80
MC Group	33.62	± 0.79

5 min

Group	Value	95% CI
AW Group	34.32	± 0.71
AC Group	34.21	± 0.80
MW Group	34.37	± 0.72
MC Group	33.80	± 0.90

10 min

Group	Value	95% CI
AW Group	34.47	± 0.69
AC Group	34.34	± 0.73
MW Group	34.47	± 0.65
MC Group	33.87	± 0.73

15 min

Group	Value	95% CI
AW Group	34.55	± 0.66
AC Group	34.36	± 0.70
MW Group	34.53	± 0.62
MC Group	33.96	± 0.75

20 min

Group	Value	95% CI
AW Group	34.59	± 0.57
AC Group	34.45	± 0.68
MW Group	34.53	± 0.61
MC Group	34.02	± 0.71

25 min

Group	Value	95% CI
AW Group	34.9	± 0.62
AC Group	34.50	± 0.70
MW Group	34.60	± 0.61
MC Group	34.09	± 0.71

30 min

Group	Value	95% CI
AW Group	34.77	± 0.54
AC Group	34.50	± 0.70
MW Group	34.59	± 0.61
MC Group	34.11	± 0.70

ΔT at the Governor Vessel Between 30 Minutes and Baseline Secondary · 30 minutes after the intervention has begin

The temperature difference (ΔT) at the Governor Vessel between 30 minutes and baseline

Group	Value	95% CI
AW Group	0.49	0.28 – 0.70
AC Group	0.68	0.45 – 0.91
MW Group	0.48	0.22 – 0.74
MC Group	0.41	0.21 – 0.60

Number of Participants Reporting a Sensation of Warmth in the Lower Back Secondary · Immediately after completion of the intervention session (within 5 minutes of needle withdrawal).

After completion of the intervention, participants completed a short questionnaire asking whether they experienced a sensation of warmth in the lower back during the intervention (response options: Yes/No). The outcome will be reported as the number and percentage of participants responding "Yes."

Group	Value	95% CI
AW Group	12
AC Group	12
MW Group	6
MC Group	11

Adverse events — posted to ClinicalTrials.gov

Time frame: Immediately after completion of the intervention session (within 30 minutes of needle withdrawal).. Reporting threshold: 2.86%. Adverse-event reports describe events observed during the trial — not all are caused by the drug.

AW Group

Serious: 0/35 (0%)

Deaths: 0/35

AC Group

Serious: 0/35 (0%)

Deaths: 0/35

MW Group

Serious: 0/35 (0%)

Deaths: 0/35

MC Group

Serious: 0/35 (0%)

Deaths: 0/35

Other adverse events (1 terms — click to expand)

Reaction	System	AW Group	AC Group	MW Group	MC Group
Subcutaneous bruising	Skin and subcutaneous tissue disorders	—	—	—	—

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05665426 adverse events section.

Sponsor's own description

Low back pain is a common clinical condition, with up to 84% of adults experiencing varying degrees of low back pain. The most common form of low back pain is non-specific low back pain, which is often treated symptomatically in medicine due to its lack of etiology, which has many side effects. In contrast, acupuncture has the advantage of being practical and free of side effects.

The use of acupuncture points in the lumbar region has a long history of application, as early as the《Huangdi Neijing》thousands of years ago. In the Ming Dynasty, there were summaries of the experience of " Yaobei Weizhong Qiu" (Which means the Weizhong point is closely associated with the waist). Weizhong point's efficacy in lumbar diseases (e.g., lumbar disc herniation, lumbago, sciatica, etc.) is still confirmed. One of the mechanisms is closely related to the improvement of microcirculation, which can be visualized by observing changes in infrared thermal parameters. Acupuncture and moxibustion are the most common therapies at Weizhong point, but there is a lack of research on the differences in efficacy between the two. Therefore, this study aims to collect the temperature parameters of the lumbar region in healthy subjects after acupuncture/moxibustion to estimate the difference in the therapeutic effect on the lumbar region, which can help to reveal the effect differences between acupuncture and moxibustion. As well as to provide scientific evidence to enrich the connotation of the classical theory " Yaobei Weizhong Qiu." the investigators will test the following hypotheses:

1. Hypotheses for main effects of different point selection(LU 5 and BL 40)： H1: There is a significant difference in average temperature change at the waist at 30 minutes between the Weizhong(BL 40) group and the Chize(LU 5) group.

H0: There is no difference in average temperature change at the waist at 30 minutes between the Weizhong(BL 40) group and the Chize(LU 5) group.
2. Hypotheses for the main effects of different interventions (acupuncture and moxibustion) H1: There is a significant difference in average temperature change at the waist at 30 minutes between the acupuncture group and the moxibustion group.

H0: There is no difference in average temperature change at the waist at 30 minutes between the acupuncture and moxibustion groups.

Publications & conference data

3 peer-reviewed publications reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):

1. Effect of acupuncture or moxibustion at Acupoints Weizhong (BL40) or Chize (LU5) on the change in lumbar temperature in healthy adults: A study protocol for a randomized controlled trial with a 2 × 2 factorial design.
   Zheng S, Shen Q, Lyu Z, Tian S, et al · · 2023 · cited 3× · PMID 37903112 · DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0291536
2. Lumbar temperature change after acupuncture or moxibustion at Weizhong (BL40) or Chize (LU5) in healthy adults: A randomized controlled trial.
   Zheng SY, Wang XY, Lin LN, Liu S, et al · · 2025 · PMID 39863500 · DOI 10.1016/j.joim.2025.01.004
3. Effect of acupuncture or moxibustion at Acupoints Weizhong or Chize on the change in lumbar temperature in healthy adults: a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial with a 2 × 2 factorial design
   Zheng S, Shen Q, Lyu Z, Tian S, et al · · 2023 · DOI 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2793617/v1