Exercise vs IA saline in OAK

Inspired by Bandak et al 2022.[1] IA – intra-articularOA – osteoarthritisOAK – OA kneeGLA:D – Good Life with osteoArthritis in DenmarkUS – ultrasoundKOOS – Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome ScoreSMD – standardised mean difference (a measure of effect size used in meta-analyses)EA – electroacupunctureMCID – minimum clinically important difference key to acronyms I am very … Continue reading Exercise vs IA saline in OAK →

Improving acupuncture research 2022

Inspired by a series of recent on access articles in the BMJ online.[1–6] Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com CACMS – China Academy of Chinese Medical SciencesBUCM – Beijing University of Chinese MedicineEBM – evidence-based medicineSR – systematic reviewRCT – randomised controlled trialGRADE – Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (a method of grading … Continue reading Improving acupuncture research 2022 →

Acupuncture for CD 2022

Inspired by Bao et al 2022.[1] Cladogram from Bao et al 2022. A cladogram is a diagram used to show relationships between organisms – from the Greek clados (branch) and gramma (character). CD – Crohn’s DiseaseMA – manual acupunctureCDAI – Crohn’s Disease Activity IndexEA – electroacupunctureCDEIS – Crohn’s Disease Endoscopic Index of SeverityHS – Histopathological … Continue reading Acupuncture for CD 2022 →

Missing the point in Guangzhou 2022

Inspired by Zeng et al 2022.[1] Cropped photo of BMJ cover from 10th March 2018. IF – impact factorEA – electroacupunctureMA – manual acupunctureNPQ – Northwick Park Neck Pain QuestionnaireSF-MPQ – Short-Form McGill Pain QuestionnaireVAS – visual analogue scorePT – pain threshold (in this case electrical pain threshold in skin)PPT – pressure pain thresholdkey to … Continue reading Missing the point in Guangzhou 2022 →

Guidelines for acupuncture RCTs

Inspired by He et al 2022 and Gang et al 2022.[1,2] Photo Kerry Hu on Unsplash. A panda in Chengdu. RCTs – randomised controlled trialsSR – systematic reviewCAM – complementary and alternative medicineCAIM – complementary alternative and integrative medicineLBP – low back painkey to acronyms I rarely refer to protocols on this blog. One exception … Continue reading Guidelines for acupuncture RCTs →

EA for surgical ToP

Inspired by Ng et al 2021.[1] Photo by Andy Wang on Unsplash. EA – electroacupunctureToP – termination of pregnancyIVF – invitro fertilisationRCT – randomised controlled trialSE – suction evacuationIM – intramuscularAA – auricular acupuncturekey to acronyms This paper was published online in Acupuncture in Medicine last month and comes from a well-known research group led … Continue reading EA for surgical ToP →

EA vs metformin for IR in PCOS 2021

Inspired by Wen et al 2021.[1] Photo by Sebastian Pena Lambarri on Unsplash. The admittedly tenuous link to this week's blog is of course FINS, which feature in both. EA – electroacupunctureMA – manual acupunctureIR – insulin resistancePCOS – polycystic ovary syndromeRCT – randomised controlled trialBMI – body mass indexHOMA-IR – homeostatic model assessment of … Continue reading EA vs metformin for IR in PCOS 2021 →

Acupuncture for ARC 2021

Inspired by Zhang et al 2021.[1] Photo by Anton Nikolov on Unsplash. ARC – acute renal colicIF – impact factorMA – manual acupunctureIM – intramuscular (injection – a route for administering drugs)IV – intravenous (ditto)NSAID – non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugCOX – cyclooxygenaseSEs – side effectsVAS – visual analogue scale (score) key to acronyms This is a … Continue reading Acupuncture for ARC 2021 →

EA and the gut microbiome

Inspired by Wang et al 2021.[1] Photo by Magda Ehlers on Pexels.comWhilst I think EA is great in KOA, the most direct way of influencing the microbial diversity in the gut is through what we chose to put in it. All the data suggests that colourful vegetables are probably the most important component of diet … Continue reading EA and the gut microbiome →

Distant vs local needling

Inspired by Yu et al 2021.[1] Photo by Dylann Hendricks | 딜란 on Unsplash. PoPS – principles of point selectionOA – osteoarthritisVAS – visual analogue scaleROM – range of movementHNCS – heterotopic noxious conditioning stimulationDNIC – diffuse noxious inhibitory controlkey to acronyms I will immediately admit that I am always biased in this debate in … Continue reading Distant vs local needling →