Acupuncture at Tiaokou (ST38) for Shoulder Adhesive Capsulitis: What Strengths Does It Have? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Table 1

Characteristics of included studies.

Study	Sample size (E/C)	Characteristics of participants:		Interventions		Course of treatment (day)	Main outcomes
		gender, ages, (E/C)
		Experiment	Control	Experiment	Control
Zhang 2006 [13]		;	;	② ④	⑤		PCE, VAS
Zhao et al. 2006 [14]		-/-;	-/-;	① ④ ⑤	③ ⑤		PCE, CMS
Xuan et al. 2008 [15]		;	;	② ④	⑨		VAS
Sun et al. 2008 [16]		;	;	① ④ ⑤	⑤		PCE
Wu et al. 2008 [17]		;	;	① ④ ⑤	⑧		PCE, VAS
Luo 2009 [18]		;	;	① ④ ⑤	⑤		PCE
Wang 2010 [19]		;	;	① ④ ⑤	⑤		PCE
Fan and Wang 2013 [20]		;	;	① ④ ⑤	⑤		PCE
X. H. Wang and T. T. Wang 2014 [21]		;	;	① ④ ⑤	⑤		PCE, VAS
Jin 2014 [22]		;	;	① ④	④		PCE, VAS
Lin 2014 [23]		;	;	① ④ ⑥	⑥		PCE
Zhang 2015 [24]		;	;	① ④ ⑦	⑦		PCE
Yuan et al. 2015 [25]		;	;	① ④	⑤		VAS, CMS
Fu 2015 [26]		;	;	① ④ ⑤	③ ④ ⑤		VAS, CMS
Liang and Ren 2016 [27]		;	;	① ④ ⑤	⑤		VAS, CMS
Li et al. 2016 [28]		;	;	② ④	⑥		VAS
Zhou 2016 [29]		-/-;	-/-;	① ④ ⑤	⑨		PCE, VAS
Li and Han 2016 [30]		-/-;	-/-;	① ④ ⑤	③ ④ ⑤		PCE
Guo 2016 [31]		;	;	① ④ ⑤	⑤		PCE

(a) Types of interventions: ① penetrating Tiaokou through Chengshan; ② electroacupuncture at Tiaokou; ③ sham-acupuncture at Tiaokou; ④ gentle range-of-motion exercises of the affected shoulder; ⑤ acupuncture at shoulder acupoints; ⑥ electroacupuncture at shoulder acupoints; ⑦ warm-acupuncture at shoulder acupoints; ⑧ tuina; ⑨ nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (Diclofenac Sodium or Loxoprofen Sodium); (b) abbreviations of main outcomes: PCE, percentage of clinical effectiveness; VAS, Visual Analogue Scale; CMS, Constant-Murley Score.