OBJECTIVE:
To assess the effectiveness of acupuncture therapy for the shoulder-hand syndrome.
METHODS:
According to the requirements of evidence-based medicine, papers of randomized controlled clinical trials for shoulder-hand syndrome published in China from 2005 to 2010 collected by databases VIP, Wanfang, CNKI, collections of papers of academic conferences, etc. were retrieved by using keywords of the shoulder-hand syndrome, reflex sympathetic dystrophy, acupuncture, moxibustion. Then the collected documents were given with Jadad score and analyzed by using software Manager 5. 0 Review Cochrane.
A patient receiving Acupuncture and Moxibustion. Acupuncture treatment of the shoulder-hand syndrome.
RESULTS:
A total of 100 papers were retrieved. Among them, 29 papers that met our inclusion criteria were given with Jadad scores (2 points for 2 papers, 1 point for the rest 27 papers, being low in quality). Twenty-one papers were brought into Meta-analysis. These papers contain 1 768 cases of patients who were divided into three sets of groups according to the used intervention measures. Meta-analysis showed that simple acupuncture therapy is significantly superior to acupoint block therapy for relieving shoulder-hand syndrome [odds ratio (OR, 95% CI) 4.80 (2.02 to 11.41), P
CONCLUSION:
Acupuncture can effectively relieve shoulder-hand syndrome in pain, wrist- and shoulder-joint motor, etc. But, the larger size of samples and high quality randomized clinical trials are needed for providing more reliable conclusive evidence.
Dr. Tony Willcox graduated in 2006 with the Academic Excellence Award from the Atlantic Institute of Oriental Medicine, in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Dr. Tony then received his Clinical Doctorate in 2016 from the same school since this newly designated Doctorate was introduced as the highest education for the American Acupuncture Association. During this time Dr. Tony was offer to do a double doctorate by participating in a PhD. in Acupuncture in Anhui, China. This was a 4-year process and Tony graduated with a Ph.D. from the Anhui University of Chinese Medicine in Jul;y of 2019.