Readers of the blog know that I like “dose related” studies when it comes to acupuncture. They are more useful for the practitioner and help in mitigating the whole “sham” versus “real” quandary. What they found here is that electroacupuncture was more useful than manual acupuncture (surprising to me), that 30 minute needle retention was better than no needle retention (nice since validates the current conventions) and that twice a week treatment was better than once a week.
Factors Associated with Conflicting Findings on Acupuncture for Tension-Type Headache: Qualitative and Quantitative Analyses.
J Altern Complement Med. 2012 Oct 17 Hao XA, Xue CC, Dong L, Zheng Z
Traditional & Complementary Medicine Program, Health Innovations Research Institute and School of Health Sciences, RMIT University , Bundoora, Victoria, Australia .
Abstract Objectives: This study aimed to identify the factors that might have contributed to the conflicting outcomes about the efficacy of acupuncture for tension-type headache (TTH) through systematically reviewing relevant randomized controlled trials…Conclusions: Acupuncture stimulation mode, needle retention, and treatment frequency could be important factors contributing to the outcome of acupuncture for TTH. Further studies are warranted to determine treatment parameters to ensure effective translation of RCTs outcomes of acupuncture for patients with TTH.
