• Xiaojie Sun, Qiaoyin Zhou, Chong Shi, Yangjing Lan, Yan Jia, Zuyun Qiu, Yifeng Shen, and Shiliang Li.
• Beijing University of Chinese Medicine.
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2020 Sep 25; 99 (39): e22369e22369.

BackgroundTarsal tunnel syndrome (TTS) is a painful condition of the ankle that affects patients' quality of life and ability to work. Multiple clinical studies of nerve decompression by acupotomy have been published in China, and the results are encouraging. However, the efficacy and security of this treatment have not been evaluated scientifically and systematically. The purpose of this systematic review protocol is to evaluate the efficacy and security of acupotomy treatment in patients with TTS, which will be helpful to clinical acupotomy doctors.MethodsRelevant randomized controlled trials will be identified by searching 9 databases (PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Chinese literature databases, the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, SinoMed, Technology Journal and the Wanfang Database. Randomized controlled trials examining the use of acupotomy for TTS patients will be identified independently by 2 reviewers by searching the databases from inception to March 2020. Clinical effects will be evaluated as the primary outcome. Visual analog scale scores will be assessed as a secondary outcome. Review Manager 5.3 will be used to perform a fixed effects meta-analysis, and the evidence level will be evaluated by using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation framework. Continuous outcomes will be presented as mean differences or standard mean differences, while dichotomous data will be expressed as relative risks.ResultsThis study will evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupotomy in the treatment of TTS in randomized controlled trials with high-quality visual analog scale and Roles and Maudsley score.ConclusionThis systematic review will provide evidence to determine whether acupotomy is an effective intervention for patients with TTS.Registration NumberDOI 10.17605/OSF. IO/9PYC2 (https://osf.io/9pyc2/).

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