Overview
The proposed research is to determine the clinical efficacy and neurobiological mechanisms of acupressure analgesia in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD).
Description
This study will help the investigators learn whether acupressure, a non-pharmacological alternative treatment approach, can help manage pain in patients with sickle cell disease. Acupressure involves the application of pressure stimulation at specific acupoints on the body. Acupressure may help relieve pain and is used for a wide variety of pain conditions. Participation in this study will consist of remote self-administered treatment every other day over 5 weeks, followed by 6 months of remote follow-up visits. During participation, subjects will: 1) receive detailed instruction on locating treatment acupoints and completing study procedures remotely, 2) be assigned a treatment kit, 3) answer questions about their personal and health-related information for assessing their health condition before, during, and after the treatment during follow-up sessions, and 4) collect inner eyelid images for examining the hemoglobin level on a weekly basis at steady phase and daily basis during acute vaso-occlusive crisis stage.
Eligibility
Inclusion Criteria:
- Any gender
- 14-17 (Adolescents) and 18-80 (Adults) years old
- Have been diagnosed with SCD and experiencing chronic pain in the past 6 months or vaso-occlusive crisis/crises in the past 12 months.
- Either outpatient or inpatient or status changing between each other
- Willing to limit the current and the introduction of any new medications or treatment modalities for control of pain symptoms during the study visits.
- Willing to stick to the scheduled acupressure treatments every other day for 5 weeks.
- Fluent in English and capable of giving written informed consent.
Exclusion Criteria:
- Recent/ongoing alternative pain management with acupuncture/acupressure or acupuncture/acupressure-related techniques within the last 6 months.
- Presence of a concurrent autoimmune or inflammatory disease such as rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, inflammatory bowel disease, etc. that causes pain or any other chronic pain condition with pain greater than sickle pain.
- Diseases/conditions history includes but not limited to:
- Head injury with substantial loss of consciousness
- Known non-SCD-related severe psychiatric illnesses (e.g. current schizophrenia, major depression with suicidal ideation).
- Significant visual, motor, or auditory impairment that would interfere with ability to perform study visits-related activities