Arch Gynecol Obstet DOI 10.1007/s00404-015-3733-y
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Electro-acupuncture effectiveness on labor pain management Tao Sha1,2 • Lili Gao1 • Jiangang Zheng2 • Zhihong Meng2
Received: 19 March 2015 / Accepted: 20 April 2015 Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015
Dear Editor, We were interested extremely to read the paper written by Chris Dong et al. in your journal that compared the effects on labor pain management by applying electro-acupuncture at two acupoints of EX-B2 and SP6. We were very pleased to see that electro-acupuncture at these acupoints could reduce labor pain and shorten the duration of active phase of labor in this clinical trial [1]. Unfortunately, some inaccuracies were noticed by us in this paper regarding the description of the location of acupoints. The authors state that EX-B2 is approximately located 1.7 cm lateral to the posterior median line and the SP6 is located 5 cm above medial malleolus in lower leg [1]. However, it is worth pointing out that ‘‘cun’’ is usually used to describe the location of acupoints in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). In general, SP6 is located on the tibial aspect of the leg, posterior to the medial border of the tibia and 3 B-cun (proportional bone cun) superior to the prominence of the medial malleolus [2]. Besides, the location of EX-B2 is 0.5
T. Sha and L. Gao contributed equally to this work. This comment refers to the article available at doi:10.1007/s00404014-3427-x and an author’s reply to this comment is available at doi:10.1007/s00404-015-3735-9. & Zhihong Meng [email protected]
B-cun lateral to the lower border of each spinous process from the first thoracic vertebra to the fifth lumbar vertebra on both sides [3]. As is known to all, acupuncture is a kind of traditional Chinese medicinal technique, which has a history of thousands of years. According to TCM theory, B-cun method is based on the skeletal structure of the body to be measured. The length or width of equally divided portions of a certain part of the body is taken as one cun, a unit of measurement, the same as skeletal proportional cun [4, 5]. In other words, differences may appear when one cun is measured by modern measuring methods between different individuals. Thus, this method depicted in the paper which uses the modern unit of measurement, for instance millimeter, centimeter and so on to locate acupoints, is not appropriate. As an example, the location of SP6 in original text is 5 cm above medial malleolus, but 5 cm is not always equal to 3 B-cun in different persons. So if using specifically modern measurements to locate acupoints in clinical practice, it may cause large deviations and influence the therapeutic effects. In conclusion, it is vitally important to describe the utmost accuracy of acupoints in clinical trials. Furthermore, this effort will provide a firm basis for the therapeutic effect of acupuncture and improve the credibility on the final results of acupuncture clinical trials worldwide. Conflict of interest of interest.
The authors declare that they have no conflict
1
Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China
References
2
Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, First Teaching Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China
1. Dong C, Hu L, Liang F, Zhang S (2015) Effects of electroacupuncture on labor pain management. Arch Gynecol Obstet 291(3):531–536
123
Arch Gynecol Obstet 2. World Health Organization (2008) WHO standard acupuncture point locations in the western Pacific region. World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific, Manila 3. General administration of quality supervision, inspection and quarantine of the People’s Republic of China, Standardization Administration of the People’s Republic of China (2006) National standards of the People’s Republic of China: nomenclature and location of acupuncture points. Standards Press of China, Beijing 4. World Health Organization (2007) WHO international standard terminologies on traditional medicine in the western Pacific region.
123
World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific, Manila 5. General administration of quality supervision, inspection and quarantine of the People’s Republic of China, Standardization Administration of the People’s Republic of China (2009) National standards of the People’s Republic of China: methods of anthropometry for locating acupuncture points. Standards Press of China, Beijing
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Electro-acupuncture effectiveness on labor pain management Tao Sha1,2 • Lili Gao1 • Jiangang Zheng2 • Zhihong Meng2
Received: 19 March 2015 / Accepted: 20 April 2015 Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015
Dear Editor, We were interested extremely to read the paper written by Chris Dong et al. in your journal that compared the effects on labor pain management by applying electro-acupuncture at two acupoints of EX-B2 and SP6. We were very pleased to see that electro-acupuncture at these acupoints could reduce labor pain and shorten the duration of active phase of labor in this clinical trial [1]. Unfortunately, some inaccuracies were noticed by us in this paper regarding the description of the location of acupoints. The authors state that EX-B2 is approximately located 1.7 cm lateral to the posterior median line and the SP6 is located 5 cm above medial malleolus in lower leg [1]. However, it is worth pointing out that ‘‘cun’’ is usually used to describe the location of acupoints in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). In general, SP6 is located on the tibial aspect of the leg, posterior to the medial border of the tibia and 3 B-cun (proportional bone cun) superior to the prominence of the medial malleolus [2]. Besides, the location of EX-B2 is 0.5
T. Sha and L. Gao contributed equally to this work. This comment refers to the article available at doi:10.1007/s00404014-3427-x and an author’s reply to this comment is available at doi:10.1007/s00404-015-3735-9. & Zhihong Meng [email protected]
B-cun lateral to the lower border of each spinous process from the first thoracic vertebra to the fifth lumbar vertebra on both sides [3]. As is known to all, acupuncture is a kind of traditional Chinese medicinal technique, which has a history of thousands of years. According to TCM theory, B-cun method is based on the skeletal structure of the body to be measured. The length or width of equally divided portions of a certain part of the body is taken as one cun, a unit of measurement, the same as skeletal proportional cun [4, 5]. In other words, differences may appear when one cun is measured by modern measuring methods between different individuals. Thus, this method depicted in the paper which uses the modern unit of measurement, for instance millimeter, centimeter and so on to locate acupoints, is not appropriate. As an example, the location of SP6 in original text is 5 cm above medial malleolus, but 5 cm is not always equal to 3 B-cun in different persons. So if using specifically modern measurements to locate acupoints in clinical practice, it may cause large deviations and influence the therapeutic effects. In conclusion, it is vitally important to describe the utmost accuracy of acupoints in clinical trials. Furthermore, this effort will provide a firm basis for the therapeutic effect of acupuncture and improve the credibility on the final results of acupuncture clinical trials worldwide. Conflict of interest of interest.
The authors declare that they have no conflict
1
Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China
References
2
Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, First Teaching Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China
1. Dong C, Hu L, Liang F, Zhang S (2015) Effects of electroacupuncture on labor pain management. Arch Gynecol Obstet 291(3):531–536
123
Arch Gynecol Obstet 2. World Health Organization (2008) WHO standard acupuncture point locations in the western Pacific region. World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific, Manila 3. General administration of quality supervision, inspection and quarantine of the People’s Republic of China, Standardization Administration of the People’s Republic of China (2006) National standards of the People’s Republic of China: nomenclature and location of acupuncture points. Standards Press of China, Beijing 4. World Health Organization (2007) WHO international standard terminologies on traditional medicine in the western Pacific region.
123
World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific, Manila 5. General administration of quality supervision, inspection and quarantine of the People’s Republic of China, Standardization Administration of the People’s Republic of China (2009) National standards of the People’s Republic of China: methods of anthropometry for locating acupuncture points. Standards Press of China, Beijing
