Analysis of characteristics of acupuncture diagnosis and treatment based on literature

Objective To explore the characteristics of diagnosis and treatment of acupuncture and moxibustion for heel pain. Methods We searched the literatures related to heel pain treated by acupuncture and moxibustion in CNKI, WFPD, VIP, CBM, PubMed and Embase, then summarized the intervene measures related to acupuncture and moxibustion, clinical characteristics of syndrome differentiation and acupuncture points selection method, frequency, treatment course, treatment effect, follow-up outcomes and safety. Results A total of 47 articles are included in the acupuncture treatment of heel pain commonly used measures like small needling knife, acupuncture, acupoint injection, electro-acupuncture, fire needling, warm needling and moxibustion. The percentage of article involved in treating heel pain by small needling knife was 55.32% (26/47) and 21.28% (10/47) by acupuncture. The percentage of articles involved in acupuncture points selection method by differentiation of disease was 93.62% (44/47). The main acupuncture points in the 47 articles was ashi acpoint (68.09%, 32/47). The therapy frequency and treatment courses varied from the differences of the acupuncture and moxibustion methods. For small needling knife, the percentage of treating frequency of one time was 36.17% (17/47) and evaluating the curative effect after one treatment was 40.43% (19/47). For acupuncture, the percentage of treating frequency of once a day was 17.02% (8/47) and 23.40% (11/47). The effective rate showed a lot of variation from 69.56%-100% vary by intervene measures. The follow-up rate was not high, only 27.66% (13/47). There was only one literature referring to the adverse reaction. Conclusions The literatures review showed that the small needling knife was the most frequent method, followed by acupuncture. Acupuncture points selection by disease differentiation is the common method. The main acupuncture points applied in heel pain is ashi acupoint. Evaluating the effect after one treatment was common used for small needling knife. Once a day and ten times a therapy course were the common treatment frequency and treatment course for the remaining intervene measures. Acupuncture and moxibustion could show immediate and probable long-term positive effect for heel pain without no severe adverse reactions. Key words: Heel pain; Acupuncture and moxibustion; Diagnosis and treatment; Medicine pharmacologic literature (TCM); Literature based discovery