Acupuncture and moxibustion for lateral elbow pain: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Shi-Ping Zhang³  Zhao-Xiang Bian⁴  Ka-Fai Chung¹  Sergio Bangrazi³  Fu-Chun Wang³  Yuan-Sheng Tan³  Chris Zaslawski³  Hua Liu²  Wing-Fai Yeung¹  Marcus Gadau³ 

[1] Department of Psychiatry, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR, China;Department of Neurology, the Second Clinical Medical College of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, China;From the Tennis Elbow Acupuncture International Study-China, Hong Kong, Australia and Italy (TEA-IS-CHAI) group;School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, SAR, China

关键词: Chinese literature;    Cochrane risk of bias tool;    PRISMA;    STRICTA;    Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs);    Tennis elbow;    Epicondylitis;   

Others  :  1220187
DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6882-14-136

 received in 2013-09-19, accepted in 2014-02-13,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

Acupuncture and moxibustion have widely been used to treat lateral elbow pain (LEP). A comprehensive systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) including both English and Chinese databases was conducted to assess the efficacy of acupuncture and moxibustion in the treatment of LEP.

Methods

Revised STRICTA (2010) criteria were used to appraise the acupuncture procedures, the Cochrane risk of bias tool was used to assess the methodological quality of the studies. A total of 19 RCTs that compared acupuncture and/or moxibustion with sham acupuncture, another form of acupuncture, or conventional treatment were included.

Results

All studies had at least one domain rated as high risk or uncertain risk of bias in the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Results from three RCTs of moderate quality showed that acupuncture was more effective than sham acupuncture. Results from 10 RCTs of mostly low quality showed that acupuncture or moxibustion was superior or equal to conventional treatment, such as local anesthetic injection, local steroid injection, non-steroidal anti- inflammatory drugs, or ultrasound. There were six low quality RCTs that compared acupuncture and moxibustion combined with manual acupuncture alone, and all showed that acupuncture and moxibustion combined was superior to manual acupuncture alone.

Conclusion

Moderate quality studies suggest that acupuncture is more effective than sham acupuncture. Interpretations of findings regarding acupuncture vs. conventional treatment, and acupuncture and moxibustion combined vs. manual acupuncture alone are limited by the methodological qualities of these studies. Future studies with improved methodological design are warranted to confirm the efficacy of acupuncture and moxibustion for LEP.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Gadau et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

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