Electroacupuncture for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: A Review of Randomized Controlled Trials
Park CW, Lim MJ, Lee SW, Yi YH, Song DW, Yu SG, Kim MJ, Oh DY, Choi HJ, Ju AR · Journal of Acupuncture Research · 2022 May 31
DOI 10.13045/jar.2021.00297
Objective
This study aimed to examine the clinical efficacy of electroacupuncture treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome by reviewing published randomized controlled trials.
Conclusions
Electroacupuncture was reported to have significant treatment results compared with the control group in methods such as total effectiveness, electromyography, and tip pinch strength. However, the quality of the studies (using risk of bias) does not allow reliable conclusions to be made. Many high quality (low risk of bias) randomized controlled trials are needed to examine the efficacy of electroacupuncture treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome.
Critical Appraisal
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Insights
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.
