Preliminary results of a new method for locating auricular acupuncture points

Auricular acupuncture is widely used for the treatment of cocaine addiction , and there is an urgent need to conduct controlled clinical research of th is intervention. One impediment to this endeavor is the lack of an objectiv e and reliable method for identifying the hypothesized active and control p oints. In order to address this issue, we conducted two studies employing a constant current electrical device and a novel probing technique. In the f irst study, we assessed the reliability of our technique for measuring elec trical skin resistance points (acupuncture or non-acupuncture) on the body. and auricles. In the second study, we analyzed and compared the measuremen ts of skin resistance of auricular acupuncture and control zones in a group of cocaine abusing patients. Findings suggest that our measurement method produced reliable measurements, and that active acupuncture zones revealed a significantly different pattern of electrical skin resistance readings co mpared to control zones. This method may be useful for locating active and control points in controlled clinical trials of auricular acupuncture.