Changes of Local Blood Flow in Response to Acupuncture Stimulation: A Systematic Review

Table 2

Skin blood flow results of comparison between groups.

Author (year)	Immediately after acupuncture insertion or manipulation		During acupuncture	After acupuncture withdrawal	Follow-up
	(within 1 min)	(within 5 min)
⁢Acupuncture versus no-acupuncture
Sandberg et al. (2005) [17]		HS: (↑); FM: (↑); TM:	HS: (↑); FM: (↑); TM: NS	HS: (↑); FM: NS; TM: NS	HS: NS; FM: NS; TM: NS
Sandberg et al. (2004) [18]		FM: (↑)	FM: (↑)	—	—
Sandberg et al. (2003) [19]		(↑)	NS	—	—
⁢Acupuncture versus nonpenetrating acupuncture (same acupoint)
Huang et al. (2012) [14]		NS	NS	NS	NS
Tsuchiya et al. (2007) [16]	—	—	—	(↑)	(↑)
⁢Acupuncture versus superficial acupuncture
Huang et al. (2012) [14]		NS	NS	NS	NS
Sandberg et al. (2005) [17]	—	HS: NS; FM: (↑); (Sup > Deep); TM: NS	HS: (↑); FM: NS; TM: NS	HS: (↑); FM: NS; TM: NS	HS: NS; FM: NS; TM: NS
Sandberg et al. (2004) [18]	—	FM: (↑)	FM: (↑)	—	—
Sandberg et al. (2003) [19]	—	(↑)	NS	—	—
⁢Acupoint versus nonacupoint
Huang et al. (2012) [14]	—	NS	NS	NS	NS
Zhang et al. (2008) [15]	—	NS	NS	NS	—
Litscher et al. (2002) [20]	p < 0.001 (↓)	—	NS	—	—
⁢Acupuncture with manipulation versus insertion-only
Min et al. (2015) [13]	—	—	(↑)	NS	—
Sandberg et al. (2003) [19]	—	p = 0.003 (↑)	NS	—	—

Superficial acupuncture had greater increase of skin blood flow than deep acupuncture; FM, fibromyalgia patients; HS, healthy subjects; NS, not significantly different; TM, trapezius myalgia patients. Most statistically significant values indicate the increase of blood flow compared to the control. “↑” means increase of blood flow compared to the control. “↓” means decrease of blood flow compared to the control. “—” means “not reported” or “not applicable.”