List of the Hypothesis: Primary hypothesis: A flexible acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine protocol will be feasible, acceptable, and useful for the treatment of long COVID. Secondary hypothesis: Long COVID patients receiving acupuncture treatment or acupuncture treatment and Chinese herbal supplements over an 8-week period will see improvements in their symptoms, function, and quality of life measurements.
View on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗Last updated 07 October 2026 from ClinicalTrials.gov. Trial statuses are refreshed automatically; check the registry record for the latest status and contact details.
All interventional trials in our ClinicalTrials.gov extract that list Acupuncture as an intervention, across Long COVID / PASC (6), ME/CFS (3). 4 are currently open to enrolment and 3 have completed. Read the OSMF evidence profile for Acupuncture for literature, mechanism and dosing context.
Intervention names are normalised from the registry's own arm labels, so the same compound can appear under a brand name, a generic name or a combination; check the full agent index for related entries.
Recruiting (2)
In this study, a 12-week pragmatic, randomized, double-blinded clinical trial will be conducted to evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture for the treatment of long Covid neuropsychiatric symptoms and provide reference for clinical non-drug treatment.
View on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗Not yet recruiting (2)
Background of study: Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a common sequela after SARS-CoV-2 infection(COVID-19). Cognitive dysfunction is one of the most common debilitating symptoms in ME/CFS. Currently, standardized therapy for ME/CFS has not been established.
View on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗Background of study: Long COVID(LC) is a prevalent sequalae of SARS-CoV-2 infection and can affect multiple organ systems. Cognitive dysfunction is one of the most common symptoms in LC with 22% prevalence. It can persist for years and significantly reduce patients' quality of life.
View on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗Completed (3)
The goal of this preliminary study is to test methods and procedures to be used in a fully-powered trial to evaluate acupuncture treatment effectiveness. Specifically, we will test the feasibility of conducting a 2-arm randomized clinical trial for evaluating the effectiveness of acupuncture for pain in patients with long COVID.
View on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗The Covid pandemic has left us with a significant number of people suffering from Long COVID, which is a clinical diagnosis of significant and varying ongoing symptoms at least 12 weeks following COVID-19 infection and characterised frequently by fatigue and breathlessness. Acupuncture has been shown to help breathlessness and fatigue in other conditions including in patients with cancer.
View on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗The investigators will conduct acupuncture for participants with chronic fatigue syndrome(CFS). Firstly the investigators aim to figure out the characteristic of sleep structure of CFS and the changes caused by acupuncture.
View on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗Unknown status (2)
In this study, a 16-week randomized, sham-controlled, double-blinded clinical trial will be conducted to to investigate the efficacy and safety of electro-acupuncture compared to sham acupuncture for treatment of long covid neuropsychiatric symptoms.
View on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗1. To study the relationship between Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and heart rate (HR) and its variability (HRV). 2.
View on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗Frequently asked questions
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Open the trial's ClinicalTrials.gov record (the "View on ClinicalTrials.gov" button), read the Eligibility Criteria and Contacts and Locations sections, and contact the study team listed there. Trials only enrol at the sites shown in the record, so check whether a site is near you or whether the study is remote/decentralised. Your own clinician can help you judge whether a trial is a sensible option and may need to provide medical records.
What do the trial phases mean?
Early Phase 1 / Phase 1 studies test safety and dosing in a small group. Phase 2 studies look for a signal of benefit in a larger group and keep checking safety. Phase 3 studies are large confirmatory trials designed to show whether a treatment works well enough for approval. Phase 4 studies follow approved treatments after they reach the market. "Phase not applicable" is used by the registry for behavioural, device, rehabilitation and other non-drug interventions.
Does the Open Source Medicine Foundation run these trials?
No. OSMF does not sponsor, run or recruit for any trial on this page. We compile public registry entries from ClinicalTrials.gov so patients and clinicians can find them in one place. For questions about a specific study, contact the sponsor or study team listed on its ClinicalTrials.gov record.
We summarise newly registered post-viral trials and notable results on the OSMF Substack.
Subscribe on SubstackOpen Source Medicine Foundation. Acupuncture clinical trials for Long COVID, ME/CFS and post-viral illness (9 trials, updated October 2026). Research Tracker, 07 October 2026.
https://research.opensourcemed.info/trials/by-agent/acupuncture.htmlUnderlying dataset (JSON, CC BY 4.0):
https://research.opensourcemed.info/data/clinical_trials/clinical_trials_current.json. Source records: ClinicalTrials.gov.Related: all agents · recruiting Long COVID trials · recruiting ME/CFS trials · open in trial finder.