Acupuncture treatment will be performed according to a defined protocol, and includes body and ear acupuncture. The needles will be stimulated manually and will remain for 20 minutes.

Body acupuncture needles (diameter 0.3mm, length 30 mm) will be placed on the following positions:

On the lower abdomen and back within Th11 and L1

• Kidney 13 and 14; alternately unilaterally
• Ren2 and 3 (midline) On classical acupuncture points on the extremities and the head
• Stomach 36, Spleen 6; bilaterally
• Large intestine 4, Liver 3; Bladder 60 bilaterally
• Du 20 (midline)

Ear acupuncture:

Ear acupuncture needles (diameter 0,2 mm, length 20mm) will be used:

Veg. I (Sympathetic), lower pelvis, hypogastric plexus, Heart,Thalamus, genital system (combining Chinese and French ear acupuncture)

For point detection an electric potentiometer will be used. Ear points are punctured according to their generally accepted positions.

Participants allocated to the waiting list control group may continue previously initiated standard therapy, but must not initiate any new treatment. They will be asked not to undergo acupuncture treatment for any condition within the next 3 months. After this period they are offered 10 acupuncture treatments over a period of 3 months.

Acupuncture treatment will be performed according to a defined protocol, and includes body and ear acupuncture.

Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) ranging from 0 (no pain) to 10 (worst pain)

Questionnaire,German Pain Assessment (Deutscher Schmerzfragebogen/DSF). The modules on pain assessment (e.g. pain characteristics, relieving and aggravating factors) and on demographic information will be used.