Insights & Discussion
Electroacupuncture treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome was reported to be effective and showed a significant difference from the control group.
Although electroacupuncture treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome was reported to be effective and showed a significant difference from the control group, in some evaluation items no significant differences were observed. The quality and the number of studies included in this review was limiting, therefore an accurate evaluation of the efficacy of electroacupuncture treatment for CTS was not possible.
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Acupuncture's effectiveness for carpal tunnel syndrome uncovers better pain relief compared to night splints and potential benefits when used alongside other treatments
2023 Frontiers in Neuroscience Acupuncture for carpal tunnel syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials Dong Q, Li X, Yuan P, Chen G, Li J, Deng J, et al.
Systematic Review Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Acupuncture was found to be more effective than night splints for pain relief, but no differences were observed in symptom severity and functional status. When used alongside other treatments, acupuncture showed potential in improving various CTS factors. However, the evidence quality was generally low or very low.
Acupuncture may be effective and safe for short-term pain reduction and functional improvement in hand-and-wrist conditions.
2022 Medical Acupuncture The Effect of Acupuncture on Hand and Wrist Pain Intensity, Functional Status, and Quality of Life in Adults: A Systematic Review Trinh K, Zhou F, Belski N, Deng J, Wong CY
Systematic Review Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Neck, Shoulder, Arm & Wrist Pain
In the 10 included RCTs (622 participants), 6 had a low risk of bias. For cryotherapy-induced pain, 1 trial showed significant pain reduction post treatment. For rheumatoid arthritis, 1 trial shown significant pain reduction and function improvements post treatment and short-term. For carpal tunnel syndrome, 1 trial showed significant pain reduction and functional improvements intermediate-term, while 3 trials suggested no significant difference. For tenosynovitis, 1 trial showed significant pain reduction and function improvements short-term. For poststroke impairments, 1 trial showed significant function improvements post treatment and at short-term, while another trial suggested no significant difference. No significant improvements were noted for trapezio-metacarpal joint osteoarthritis. In 2 trials, adverse effects occurred in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome; yet acupuncture appeared to be relatively safe.
Electroacupuncture may be more effective than manual acupuncture for managing frozen shoulder, with larger effect sizes in terms of pain, function, and response rate.
2022 Frontiers in Medicine Electroacupuncture for the treatment of frozen shoulder: A systematic review and meta-analysis Heo JW, Jo JH, Lee JJ, Kang H, Choi TY, Lee MS, et al.
Systematic Review Electroacupuncture Frozen Shoulder Shoulder Pain
This review included thirteen studies involving 936 patients. The EA group exhibited improvements in FS pain, function, and response rates over the manual acupuncture (MA) group. As an adjunct treatment, EA improved FS pain compared to the control treatments. No adverse effects were reported.
EA was found to be an efficacious method for treating FS in this review. The meta-analysis showed that EA led to a greater reduction of FS pain than MA did, although with a very low certainty of evidence. In comparison to MA, EA led to a superior degree of functional improvement in FS patients, with a very low certainty of evidence. In comparison to MA, EA enhanced the response rate of FS, again with a low certainty of evidence. Compared with WM used in isolation, EA plus WM reduced FS pain with a low certainty of evidence.
Acupuncture can be used for carpal tunnel syndrome treatment without serious adverse effects.
2021 Journal of Pharmacopuncture Effect of Manual Acupuncture for Mild-to-Moderate Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: A Systematic Review Huh JH, Jeong HI, Kim KH
Systematic Review Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
In the selected papers, several measurement tools measured the post-treatment improvement of patients and, in most cases, a comparison of the acupuncture and control groups showed that acupuncture treatment was significantly more effective than the comparator intervention. Thus, acupuncture treatment was positively evaluated with regard to efficacy for mild-to-moderate carpal tunnel syndrome.
Acupuncture and electroacupuncture are a therapeutic option for mild to moderate carpal tunnel syndrome with a medium level of scientific evidence, tending towards a high level, and with a medium level of recommendation.
2020 Neuropediatrics Acupuncture and electroacupuncture in the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome: Systematic review Badia M, Santafé MM
Systematic Review Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
The search retrieved 698 articles in total. After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 21 articles were included. The level of evidence of all the articles was medium-high. The level of recommendation was medium, and the risk of bias was neutral, with a tendency towards low bias. The articles included revealed symptomatic and neurophysiological improvements, both peripheral as well as central, due to the cerebral response that occurs associated with the function of the median nerve.
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