OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the effect of auriculotherapy on the intensity of physical and mood premenstrual syndrome (PMS) symptoms. DESIGN: Single-blind randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial. SETTING: Federal University of Parana, Curitiba, Brazil. INTENTION: Ninety-one women were randomly assigned to Auriculotherapy (AG), Placebo (PG), and Control (CG) groups. The intervention was 8 weeks long, done once per week. At each session in AG the microneedles were placed in seven points related to PMS symptoms (anxiety; endocrine; muscle relaxation; analgesia; kidney; shen men; and sympathetic). At PG the microneedles also were placed in seven points but unrelated to PMS symptoms (tonsils; vocal cords; teeth; eyes; allergy; mouth; and external nose). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Assessments of PMS symptoms (Premenstrual Syndrome Screening Tool), musculoskeletal pain (Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire), anxiety (Beck Anxiety Inventory), and quality of life (WHOQOL-Bref) were done at baseline, before the 5th session, after program completion, and a month follow-up. RESULTS: The AG and PG showed significantly lower scores of PMS symptoms, musculoskeletal pain, and anxiety. On the quality of life and follow-up analysis, the significance was observed only in PG. CONCLUSION: Auriculotherapy can be used as adjunctive therapy to reduce the physical and mood PMS symptoms.

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