Inspired by Cao et al 2025.[1] Photo by Anton Nikolov on Unsplash. ARC – acute renal colicRCT – randomised controlled trialIF – impact factorIM – intramuscularUTI – urinary tract infectionVAS – visual analogue score (usually 10cm horizontal line with no pain or worst pain at each end)NRS – numerical rating scale (11-point digital verbal scale from 0 to … Continue reading Acupuncture for ARC 2025
Stimulated by Khadour et al 2025.[1,2] A Hartley guinea pig doing an impression of an SD rat – the strain used in the experimental research mentioned below.This image feature previously on the blog – EA for guinea pig OAK. EA – electroacupunctureJIA – juvenile idiopathic arthritisIF – impact factorELISA – enzyme-linked immunosorbent assayCaspase-1 – cystine … Continue reading EA for JIA 2025
Inspired by Li et al and He et al 2025.[1,2] Photo by Robina on Unsplash. COPD – chronic obstructive pulmonary diseaseEA – electroacupunctureAPI – allergic pulmonary inflammationIF – impact factorGOLD – Global initiative for chronic Obstructive Lung Disease6MWD – 6-minute walk distanceSGRQ – St. George’s Respiratory QuestionnaireHRQoL – health-related quality of lifeMCID – minimal clinically important difference – … Continue reading Acupuncture in COPD 2025
Inspired by Sun et al 2024.[1] Photo by Dendy on Unsplash – Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. OA – osteoarthritisOAK – OA of the kneeMA – manual acupunctureEA – electroacupunctureWA – warm acupunctureMM – mild moxibustionSA – sham acupunctureVAS – visual analogue scaleWOMAC – Western Ontario and McMaster Universities OA indexBMI – body mass indexARC – Acupuncture … Continue reading Acupuncture techniques for OAK
Stimulated by Chen et al 2024.[1] Diagram by MC illustrating the treatment used in the trial by Chen et al 2024.[1] TEAS – transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (ie a form of TENS)TENS – transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulationCVA – cerebrovascular accidentIF – impact factorRCT – randomised controlled trialICU – intensive care unitGCS – Glasgow coma scaleGI … Continue reading TEAS after CVA surgery
Stimulated by Wu et al 2024.[1] IA – intradermal acupunctureSSRI – selective serotonin reuptake inhibitorMDD – major depressive disorderEA – electroacupunctureMA – manual acupunctureIF – impact factorZung SDS – Zung self-rating depression scalePSQI – Pittsburgh sleep quality indexFC – functional connectivityMCID – minimal clinically important differenceGPT – generative pre-trained transformer – key to acronyms I … Continue reading IA plus SSRI in MDD
Stimulated by Lee et al 2024.[1] SR – systematic reviewNMA – network meta-analysisKIOM – Korean Institute of Oriental MedicineSATS – sham acupuncture therapy sham pointSATV – sham acupuncture therapy verum pointRR50 – responder rate defined as a 50% reduction in headache days per month – key to acronyms It is a year ago since I … Continue reading Does sham point location matter 3
Inspired by Liu et al 2024.[1] Image from HVAC photoshoot 2012.[6] EA – electroacupunctureOA – osteoarthritisOAK – OA of the kneeSR – systematic reviewNICE – the National Institute for Health and Care ExcellenceHVAC – high volume acupuncture clinicRoB – risk of biasNSAIDs – non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugsIPDM – individual patient data meta-analysisGRADE – Grading of Recommendations, … Continue reading EA for OAK 2024
Inspired by Tu et al 2024.[1] IF – impact factorBUCM – Beijing University of Chinese MedicineRCT – randomised controlled trialVAS – visual analogue scoreODI – Oswestry Disability IndexMCID – minimum important clinical difference – key to acronyms A general internal medicine physician colleague from UCLH picked up this paper from JAMA Internal Medicine (IF 39.0) … Continue reading Acupuncture for chronic sciatica 2024
Inspired by Zhu et al 2024.[1] Points used in the trial adapted from Supplement 3 of the publication.[2] CP – chronic prostatitisCPPS – chronic pelvic pain syndromeRCT – randomised controlled trialMA – manual acupunctureNIH-CPSI – National Institute of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index – key to acronyms This is secondary analysis of a large RCT … Continue reading Acupuncture for CP CPPS in drinkers
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