Acupuncture Electro
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Acupuncture Electro · Jan 2002
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialComparison of the effectiveness between manual acupuncture and electro-acupuncture on patients with tennis elbow.
This is a single-blinded randomized controlled trial to compare the relative effectiveness between manual acupuncture (MA) and electro-acupuncture (EA) on the patients with chronic tennis elbow. Twenty patients recruited in the study were first introduced into control group for 2 weeks waiting period. Then, they were randomly assigned into either MA or EA group for acupuncture treatment. ⋯ In the EA group, electrical stimulation with 4 pulses/second frequency was applied and treatment lasted for 20 minutes. After 6 treatments within 2 weeks duration, significant differences were observed between groups favoring the electro-acupuncture in relation to pain relief (Pain visual analogue scale) and pain free hand grip strength (PFG). This study showed that electro-acupuncture is superior to manual acupuncture in treating patients with tennis elbow.