Stimulated by Zha et al 2024.[1] Photo by Kathryn Archibald on Pexels.com EA – electroacupuncture ENT – ears nose and throat (refers to a medical specialty) TrP – trigger point NMDA – N-methyl-D-aspartate (glutamate receptor) TS – subjective tinnitus THI – tinnitus handicap inventory rs-fMRI – resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging FC – functional connectivity INS – insula Treatment of tinnitus with acupuncture has been a thorny issue for me from my earliest days in the BMAS. I came across acupuncture for the first time in 1989, shortly after my first ENT job, and just after sta ..read more

Stimulated by Yang et al 2024.[1] Lake Powell, Arizona on Wednesday 19th April 2023. EA – electroacupuncture CUR – chronic urinary retention QoL – quality of life SNS – sacral nerve stimulation POUR – post-operative urinary retention PVR – post-voiding residual (urine volume) EA – electroacupuncture POCUS – point of care ultrasound key to acronyms This is a relatively small retrospective cohort study (n=20) from Beijing, but the last author on the paper (the boss) has a very good track record in acupuncture research, and the clinical condition is difficult to treat and has a considerable impa ..read more

Stimulated by Chaabna et al 2024.[1] Photo by Chiara Caldarola on Pexels.com WMA – Western medical acupuncture SR – systematic review SM – sports medicine TCA – traditional Chinese acupuncture TCM – traditional Chinese medicine key to acronyms I spent the last weekend teaching on a WMA course in a sports clinic in Porto (HP Clinics), so this paper, which had been resting in my ‘recent’ folder on Zotero, seemed like an appropriate choice. It is an SR from a group in Qatar. We do not often see WMA mentioned in acupuncture papers, and rarely in the title. This is probably the first SR with Weste ..read more

Stimulated by Ma et al and Zhang et al 2024.[1,2] MC doing tongue manoeuvres with a needle buried in CV23 at a BMAS Practical course in March 2024. CV23 has recently been introduced on the BMAS Foundation Course… PSD – post stroke dysphagia IF – impact factor FMA – Fugl-Meyer assessment (motor function assessment after stroke) BI – Barthel index (assessment of activities of daily living) DOSS – dysphagia outcome severity scale SWAL-QOL – swallowing quality of life (outcome score) APC – article processing charge CAM – complementary and alternative medicine MBA – masters in business administrat ..read more

Stimulated by Ma et al 2024.[1] Photo by Julius Carmine on Unsplash. This image came up when I searched for Yancheng on Unsplash. Just to the right of centre, between the two central pillars you can just see a fluid level – I guess that is the Yellow Sea. EA – electroacupuncture PSD – post stroke depression RCT – randomised controlled trial SR – systematic review HAMD-17 – Hamilton depression scale (the first 17 items) SDS – Zung self-rating depression scale MBI – modified Barthel index key to acronyms This is a relatively large, single centre, sham controlled and comparative RCT from a group ..read more

Stimulated by Huang et al 2024.[1] Seven Sisters tube station – platform 4 (2) by Mike Quinn is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.0. This is entirely unrelated to the content of this blog apart from the shared word – tube. ‘tubes’ – this refers to urinary catheters, NG tubes and tracheostomies NG – nasogastric NHIRD – nation health insurance research database (Taiwan) HCC – home health care LGTD – longitudinal generation tracking database aHR – adjusted hazard ratio CI – confidence interval key to acronyms and terms I continue to be surprised by these retrospective cohort studies from Taiwan. The tec ..read more

Stimulated by Ben-Arie et al 2024.[1] ICU – intensive care unit SR – systematic review MV – mechanical ventilation RCT – randomised controlled trial EA – electroacupuncture MA – manual acupuncture US – ultrasound RR – relative risk CI – confidence interval key to acronyms This paper was published online in November 2023, but I could not access the full text. Eventually I wrote to one of the corresponding authors (Yu-Chen Lee) and he kindly sent me a pdf. It is another SR based on trials of patients in ICU from the same team in Taichung, Taiwan, as the one I highlighted on the safety of acupu ..read more

Stimulated by Huang et al 2023.[1] Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com RA – rheumatoid arthritis RCIPD – Registry for Catastrophic Illness Patients Database NHIRD – national health insurance research database (Taiwan) DMARDs – disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs aHR – adjusted hazard ratio CHD – coronary heart disease key to acronyms I thought this was the first time I had seen one of these large observational cohort studies from Taiwan published in BMJ Open, but on checking my records I see that there was one from the pre-blog era that I managed to scoop into the end of a blog in 2021 ..read more

Inspired by Hoerder et al 2023.[1] Photo by How-Soon Ngu on Unsplash. DPN – diabetic peripheral neuropathy ACUCIN – acupuncture for chemotherapy-induced neuropathy ACUDIN – acupuncture for diabetic induced neuropathy ACUDPN – acupuncture in diabetic peripheral neuropathy NCS – nerve conduction studies ARC – acupuncture in routing care (a set of trials from Germany in the 00’s) MA – manual acupuncture VAS – visual analogue score SR – systematic review EA – electroacupuncture RCT – randomised controlled trial key to acronyms This paper was published in mid-December 2023 in the Wo ..read more

Inspired by Huang et al 2023.[1] This Figure is taked from the published protocol.[2] EA – electroacupuncture TKA – total knee arthroplasty RCT – randomised controlled trial VAS – visual analogue score PCA – patient-controlled analgesia MSK – musculoskeletal SD – standard deviation CI – confidence interval MCID – minimum important clinical difference key to acronyms This is a paper that we (Acupuncture in Medicine) published online at the very end of 2023, so when it is selected for an issue, it will be 2024. If you are a BMAS member you need to access the full text via the Acupuncture in Med ..read more