Adjuvant laser meridian massage in men with opioid use disorder on methadone maintenance treatment: Protocol for a case-controlled study

Wen-Long Hu, Meng-Chang Tsai, Chun-En Kuo, Chun-Ting Liu, Szu-Ying Wu, Tzu-Chan Wu, Yu-Chiang Hung, Wen-Long Hu, Meng-Chang Tsai, Chun-En Kuo, Chun-Ting Liu, Szu-Ying Wu, Tzu-Chan Wu, Yu-Chiang Hung

Abstract

Background: Heroin addiction remains a significant public health problem worldwide, and relapse to heroin use following cessation of agonist maintenance treatment is common. The problems associated with use of opioid agonists mean that non-opioid therapies need to be developed to ameliorate acute and protracted opioid withdrawal syndromes.

Methods: Fifteen men with opioid use disorder on methadone maintenance treatment have been enrolled from an addiction treatment center as an experimental group in this case-controlled study. This group is receiving laser meridian massage on the back, including the Bladder meridian and Governor Vessel, 3 times weekly for 4 weeks. An age-matched control group that does not receive laser meridian massage has also been enrolled. Urinary morphine levels are being checked before and after 2 and 4 weeks of treatment. Subjects are requested to self-report their number of episodes or days of heroin use and 0 to 10-point visual analogue scale scores for heroin craving/refusal to use heroin during the previous week before and after 2 and 4 weeks of treatment. Quality of life will be reported using the Short Form-12v2 before and after 4 weeks of treatment. Pulse diagnosis will be recorded and heart rate variability calculated after one single treatment session. The baseline patient characteristics will be compared between the experimental and control groups using the independent t test and Chi-square test. Data are compared between the 2 groups using repeated-measures analysis of variance, generalized estimating equations, and the paired t test.

Objective: To investigate the effect of adjuvant laser meridian massage in men with opioid use disorder on methadone maintenance treatment.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04003077.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart showing movement of subjects through the study.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Meridians used for heroin addiction: Bladder meridian (BL11-BL25) and Governor Vessel (GV3-GV14).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Laser meridian massage performed using the LaserPen device at the Governor Vessel.

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Source: PubMed

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