Electroacupuncture for Spinal Cord Injury: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials

Table 2

Clinical characteristics of the included studies.

Included study	Randomization method	Treatment		Intervention methods		Main points selected	Outcome indicators	Adverse events
		Duration	Frequency	EA group	Control group
Gu et al. [22]	Randomized according to bed number	6 m	30 min, daily (7 days off every month)	EA + rehabilitation training + medication	Rehabilitation training + medication	Jiaji points on both sides of the injury plane	FIM	NM
Feng et al. [23]	Just mentioned random	8 w	30 min, 6 times per week	EA + rehabilitation training + medication	Rehabilitation training + medication	Dazhui (GV14), mingmen (GV4)	ASIA, MBI	NM
Wang [24]	Just mentioned random	3 m	NM	EA + rehabilitation training	Rehabilitation training	GV points	ASIA	NM
Jiang and Chen [25]	Random number table	80 d	30 min, daily	EA + rehabilitation training	Rehabilitation training	Cervical jiaji points	Frankel classification, BI, FIM	NM
Ou [26]	Random number table	8 w	30 min, 5 times per week	EA + rehabilitation training	Rehabilitation training	GV points and corresponding jiaji points on the injury plane	MMT, BI, WISCI II	NM
Guo et al. [27]	Random number table	6 w	40 min, 5 times per week	Key muscles EA + rehabilitation training	Rehabilitation training	Points on key muscles of lower limbs	MBI, MAS	NM
Li and Chi [28]	Random number table	8 w	30 min, 6 times per week	Jiaji EA + GV EA	Jiaji CE	T6–T11 jiaji points, dazhui (GV14), mingmen (GV4), yanglingquan (GB34), zusanli (ST36)	MBI	NM
Deng and Lao [29]	Just mentioned random	8 w	30 min, 5 times per week	Jiaji EA + CE + medication	CE + medication	Jiaji points on both sides of the injury plane	ASIA, WISCI II, SCIM	NM
Yang et al. [30]	Just mentioned random	8 w	30 min, 5 times per week	EA + weight loss walking training	Weight loss walking training	Jiaji points on both sides of the injury plane, dazhui (GV14), mingmen (GV4),	ASIA motor score, MBI	NM
Wong et al. [31]	Just mentioned random	12 m	30 min, 5 times per week	EA + rehabilitation training	Rehabilitation training	Houxi (SI3), shenmai (BL62), auricular acupoints	ASIA, FIM	NM

d, days; w, weeks; m, months; GV, governor vessel; CE, conventional acupuncture; ASIA, American Spinal Injury Association; FIM, functional independence measure; MMT, manual muscle testing; BI, Barthel index; MBI, modified Barthel index; WISCI II, walking index for spinal cord injury II; SCIM, spinal cord independence measure; MAS, modified Ashworth score; NM, not mentioned. Acupoint selection only indicates the main acupoints.