Efficacy Study of Acupuncture on Asymptomatic Hyperuricemia

The special type of acupuncture needles will be inserted into the skin of standard acupuncture points and manipulated manually by using the techniques such as lifting, thrusting, and twirling, until the internal compound sensation known as deqi.

According to the Multidisciplinary Expert Consensus on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Hyperuricemia related Diseases in China and the 2012 Guidelines of the American College of Rheumatology, health education should be given as basic prevention. These include weight control, regular exercise, limiting alcohol and high-purine and high-fructose diets, encouraging dairy and fresh vegetables and drinking moderate amounts of water, and not recommending or limiting soy products.

We will use a non-insertive sham control. Sham points are located at 5 cun lateral to the seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleven and twelve thoracic spine. Cun is a distance measure unit used in locating acupoints in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) acupuncture, and the width of patient's thumb interphalangeal joint is regarded as one cun.