Recruiting

Acupuncture

Sponsor:

Paul Crawford

Code:

NCT05516862

Conditions

PTSD

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Acupuncture

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Dragons acupuncture

Dragons acupressure

Dragons placebo

Study Details

Brief summary:

This study seeks to verify that a specific acupuncture treatment is effective at reducing symptoms of neuropsychiatric trauma found in those diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Conditions

PTSD

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Acupuncture

Study ID

NCT05516862

Start date

Oct 1, 2022

Status verified date

Sep, 2025

Completion date

Oct 1, 2026

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Oct 1, 2026

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Active Duty members and DoD beneficiaries(i.e. former military, spouse, dependent child), 18-65 years old
  • Meeting the criteria for PTSD based on PCL-5 (past month scores) score of 31 or higher
  • At least 1 positive response to at least one item on the LEC-5.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Pregnant, may be pregnant, or attempting to become pregnant. There areno known risks of this acupuncture in pregnant patients; however, we will exclude pregnancy due to the location of the needles (right over the uterus in 3rd trimester) and risk of exacerbating anxiety that may cause stress on the baby. Subjects will be told to let us know if they become pregnant so we can disenroll them from the study.
  • Prior treatment with Dragons acupuncture
  • History of hospitalization for mental health reasons within the last year
  • Active Suicidal thoughts (is currently considering suicide or has a plan) or suicide attempt within the last year. This will be assessed by direct questioning.
  • Is currently receiving acupuncture or other non-medication treatments specifically for PTSD (patients can elect to forgo PTSD treatments during the study period and then resume after the study period is over; ie halt therapy during the study period)
  • Legally Authorized Representatives will not be utilized in this study

\*\*Patients must be able to get care at Nellis Air Force Base (a military installation) in order to participate in this study\*\*

Study Design

Enrollment

75 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Group 1

Script followed by Dragons Acupuncture (external Dragons points with patient prone for 15 minutes followed by internal Dragons points with patient supine for 15 minutes).

sham comparator: Group 2

Script followed by Dragons sham acupressure placed at the Dragons points (external Dragons points with patient prone for 15 minutes followed by internal Dragons points with patient supine for 15 minutes).

placebo comparator: Group 3

Script followed by Acupuncturist lightly touching Dragons points (external Dragons points with patient prone for 15 minutes followed by internal Dragons points with patient supine for 15 minutes).

Interventions

Dragons acupuncture

The treatment we are studying is supposed to help the rational and emotional brain effectively communicate, so that the emotional brain can finally realize the trauma experienced is no longer a threat. We call this re-processing. It does not take away the memory but it allows the rational brain to see the memory as just a memory without the emotional brain initiating your fight, flight or freeze system. This allows the mind to take the file off the messy desk and put it away. The treatment was named by the Chinese and is called "External and Internal Dragons". According to the Chinese, the External Dragons represent all the bad (traumatic) things that happen to us. The Internal Dragons live inside us, and fight off the External Dragons.

Subject will lay on your stomach and have 7 needles placed in head, upper back, lower back and ankles.

Dragons acupressure

The treatment we are studying is supposed to help the rational and emotional brain effectively communicate, so that the emotional brain can finally realize the trauma experienced is no longer a threat. We call this re-processing. It does not take away the memory but it allows the rational brain to see the memory as just a memory without the emotional brain initiating your fight, flight or freeze system. This allows the mind to take the file off the messy desk and put it away. The treatment was named by the Chinese and is called "External and Internal Dragons". According to the Chinese, the External Dragons represent all the bad (traumatic) things that happen to us. The Internal Dragons live inside us, and fight off the External Dragons.

Subject will lay on your stomach and have 7 small acupressure adhesive bandages placed on head, upper back, lower back and ankles.

Dragons placebo

The treatment we are studying is supposed to help the rational and emotional brain effectively communicate, so that the emotional brain can finally realize the trauma experienced is no longer a threat. We call this re-processing. It does not take away the memory but it allows the rational brain to see the memory as just a memory without the emotional brain initiating your fight, flight or freeze system. This allows the mind to take the file off the messy desk and put it away. The treatment was named by the Chinese and is called "External and Internal Dragons". According to the Chinese, the External Dragons represent all the bad (traumatic) things that happen to us. The Internal Dragons live inside us, and fight off the External Dragons.

Subject will lay on your stomach and the doctor will touch 7 points on head, upper back, lower back and ankles.

Primary outcome measure

  • Clinician Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5) [ Time Frame: visit 1 (week 0) ]
  • Clinician Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5) [ Time Frame: visit 6 (week 8) ]
  • PTSD checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) [ Time Frame: visit 1 (week 0) ]
  • PTSD checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) [ Time Frame: visit 3 (week 2) ]
  • PTSD checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) [ Time Frame: visit 4 (week 3) ]
  • PTSD checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) [ Time Frame: visit 5 (week 4) ]
  • PTSD checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) [ Time Frame: visit 6 (week 8) ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Amanda Crawford, MS

7026533600amanda.j.crawford.ctr@health.mil

Locations

Mike O'Callaghan Military Medical Center

Recruiting

Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, United States, 89191

Contacts

Amanda J Crawford, MSHS

702-653-3298amanda.j.crawford.ctr@mail.mil

More Information

Sponsor

Paul Crawford

Last update posted

Sep 19, 2025

Last verified

Sep, 2025

Keywords

  • PTSD
  • DRAGONS
  • family medicine residency

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Paul Crawford on 2025-09-19.