Author: Zhang LL1, Chu Q1, Wang S2, Lai H3, Xie BB4
Affiliation: <sup>1</sup>Department of Acupuncture, First Teaching Hospital Affiliated to Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Moxibustion Science, Tianjin, 300193, China.
<sup>2</sup>Department of Acupuncture, First Teaching Hospital Affiliated to Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Moxibustion Science, Tianjin, 300193, China. wangs2008@163.com.
<sup>3</sup>Institute of Acupuncture, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, 300193, China.
<sup>4</sup>Department of Oncology, Tianjin Ninghe Hospital, Tianjin, 301500, China.
Conference/Journal: Chin J Integr Med.
Date published: 2016 Apr 13
Other:
Word Count: 136
Many clinical trials and experimental studies claim that sham acupuncture is as effective as traditional Chinese acupuncture. However, these studies have no standard sham acupuncture control and many other factors can affect the clinical effect. These factors include needle retention time, treatment frequency, and the total number of treatments needed for satisfactory results, and all can change the clinical effect. The majority of existing acupuncture treatment studies do not consider these factors and lack standard dosage criteria. Therefore, it is still too early to conclude that sham acupuncture is as effective as traditional Chinese acupuncture. This article investigates the factors that inflfluence the curative effect of acupuncture as to help set a standard for acupuncture studies in the future.
KEYWORDS: Deqi; acupuncture; acupuncture manipulation; sham acupuncture; specificity of acupoints
PMID: 27081001 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]