Studies examining the effect of needle location
| Study (number of participants) | Intervention | Comparator group(s) | Outcome measure | Treatment outcome for pain |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liu et al21 (n=501) | EA at SP6 (n=167) | EA at GB39 (n=167) or non-acupuncture point (n=167) | VAS VRS | Immediate: SP6 caused a significantly greater reduction (−4.0 mm) in VAS recorded pain than GB39 (p=0.010) or a non-acupuncture point (p=0.012) Short-term: All groups showed improvement in VRS with no between group differences |
| Liu et al24 (n=194) | EA at SP6 (n=50) | EA at GB39 (n=50) or non-acupuncture point (n=46) Wait list control (n=48) | VAS | Immediate: All three acupuncture groups showed pain reductions from baseline (p<0.05). GB39 showed a greater reduction than the non-acupuncture point (−7.18 mm, 95% CI −13.84 to −0.51, p=0.035) but no difference to SP6 |
| Shi et al22 (n=40) | EA at SP6 (n=10) | EA at GB39 (n=10) or non-acupuncture point (n=10) Wait list control (n=10) | VAS | Immediate: All EA groups had a reduction in pain (p<0.05) compared to wait list control. No differences between EA groups |
| Ma et al23 (n=52) | EA at SP6 (n=13) | EA at GB39 (n=14) or unrelated acupuncture point (n=12) Wait list control (n=13) | VAS | Immediate: All EA pain reduced from baseline at 5, 10 and 30 min (p<0.001). SP6 had the greatest pain reduction (superior to multiple points, SMD −23.19 mm) compared to control at 30 min post-intervention (p<0.0001) |
| Yu et al11 (n=66) | MA at SP6 (n=32) | MA at GB39 (n=34) | Menstrual pain score | Immediate: SP6 group had greater pain reduction at 5 min compared to the GB39 group (SMD −1.31, 95% CI −1.85 to −0.77, p<0.05) |
| Helms25 (n=43) | MA at traditional acupuncture points (real) (n=11) | MA at non-channel points (‘placebo’) (n=11) Standard control: same care as before the study (n=11) Visitation control: increased visits from physician (n=10) | Custom pain scale: 0–6 | Short-term: No difference between groups for pain scores. Long-term: Greater proportion of women in the ‘real’ group (90.9%) showed ≥50% reduction in pain compared to women in the ‘placebo’ group (36.4%) (p<0.05) |
CI, confidence interval; EA, electroacupuncture; MA, manual acupuncture; SMD, standardised mean difference; VAS, visual analogue scale; VRS, verbal rating scale.