A Longitudinal Study of the Reliability of Acupuncture Deqi Sensations in Knee Osteoarthritis
Figure 2
Standardized acupuncture protocol. (a) Real and sham acupuncture points. Low-dose real acupuncture was applied on ST35 and Xiyan (extra point). High-dose acupuncture group was applied to four additional points: GB34, SP9, GB39, and SP6. Six sham acupuncture points were used for the sham acupuncture group. (b) Acupuncture stimulation paradigm for both real and placebo acupunctures, indicating the timeline of intermittent needle stimulation during each acupuncture treatment. Six 10-second periods of manual needle rotation (M) were separated by 30 seconds of rest. The manual stimulation series (M1–6) was repeated a total of 4 times, twice prior to administering the first MASS, and an additional 2 times prior to the second MASS.
