Clinical trial · Observational
Real-World Study of Acupuncture for Pain Control
Qi's Clinic, Real-World Effectiveness of an Acupuncture-First Stepped Care Pathway for Pain Management: An Episode-Based Observational Study in Routine Outpatient Clinical Practice Supported by an ES-Enabled Clinical System
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
The goal of this observational study is to evaluate the real-world effectiveness of an acupuncture-first stepped care pathway for pain management in adults aged 18 years and older receiving routine outpatient clinical care for non-cancer-related pain conditions. The primary purpose is to describe episode-based clinical outcomes and care utilization patterns as they occur in standard practice. The main questions it aims to answer are: * What proportion of completed pain episodes achieve a clinically meaningful improvement, defined as a ≥50% reduction in pain intensity (Numeric Rating Scale or Visual Analog Scale) within an episode treatment window of up to 8 acupuncture visits? * What are the visit utilization patterns, time to clinically meaningful improvement, and care escalation patterns within an acupuncture-first stepped care pathway in routine outpatient practice? There is no comparison group. This study does not introduce or test a new intervention. All care is delivered as part of standard clinical practice. Participants will: * Receive acupuncture treatment as part of routine outpatient care * Undergo routine pain assessments (NRS/VAS) at each clinical visit * Participate in standard clinical follow-up as determined by usual care practices No additional research-specific visits, procedures, questionnaires, or interventions are introduced. Data analyzed in this study are derived from routine clinical documentation systems and are de-identified prior to analysis.
Conditions
Conditions (1)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-Cancer Pain,Musculoskeletal Pain,Chronic Pain,Acute Pain | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
Interventions
Interventions (1)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acupuncture-First Stepped Care Pathway (Routine Clinical Care) | Procedure | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (1)
- label
- Acupuncture-First Stepped Care Cohort
- interventionNames
- Procedure: Acupuncture-First Stepped Care Pathway (Routine Clinical Care)
Primary outcomes (1)
- measure
- Proportion of Pain Episodes Achieving Clinically Meaningful Improvement
- timeFrame
- From baseline (initial visit) through episode closure, up to 12 weeks (maximum of 8 visits)
- description
- Clinically meaningful improvement is defined as a ≥50% reduction in pain intensity from baseline, measured using the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) or Visual Analog Scale (VAS). The outcome is assessed at the final observed visit within the episode treatment window (up to 8 acupuncture visits) or at episode closure, whichever occurs first.
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- All
- Minimum age
- 18 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: * Adults aged 18 years or older * Patients presenting with non-cancer-related pain conditions * Patients receiving acupuncture as part of routine outpatient clinical care Exclusion Criteria: * Cancer-related pain conditions * Patients who opt out of research use of their clinical data
References
Publications (0)
Data not yet available