3.4. Acupuncture Intervention

3.4.1. Method of Intervention
111 studies [7, 10, 12–14, 16–26, 28, 29, 31–34, 36, 39, 42, 43, 46–59, 61, 63, 64, 66–68, 75, 78, 82, 83, 85–88, 90, 91, 93–95, 97–100, 102–106, 108–114, 125–129, 132, 135–139, 142, 144, 145, 148, 149, 151, 153, 154, 156, 157, 163–165, 167, 172, 174–176] chose manual acupuncture as intervention method. 32 studies [27, 37, 38, 44, 60, 62, 65, 69, 70, 72, 76, 77, 80, 84, 89, 96, 101, 107, 115–117, 124, 140, 146, 152, 159, 162, 166, 169–171, 173] chose electroacupuncture as intervention method. Besides, the transcutaneous electric acupoint stimulation was performed in 6 studies [45, 73, 74, 81, 141, 143], the laser acupuncture in 6 studies [40, 79, 92, 150, 160, 168], heat stimulation on acupoints in 2 studies [147, 155], and the magnetic stimulation on acupoints in 1 study [30]. There were 10 studies [11, 15, 35, 41, 71, 131, 133, 134, 158, 161] using at least two types of acupuncture methods (Figure 3).

3.4.2. Manipulation Procedure
134 articles [10–20, 22, 24, 26, 27, 29, 30, 34–39, 41, 42, 46–52, 54–70, 72, 73, 75–130, 132, 133, 135–138, 142, 144–146, 148, 151–154, 156–158, 163, 167–170, 172, 174–176] have described the manipulation procedure of acupuncture.

3.4.3. Deqi (Needle Sensation)
82 studies [10, 15, 16, 22, 23, 26, 28, 29, 34, 35, 37, 38, 41–47, 50, 54, 56, 57, 64, 68, 69, 72, 73, 75–77, 80, 87, 89–91, 93–96, 98–101, 103, 105–111, 114, 115, 117, 118, 120–124, 127, 130, 133, 135–138, 140, 144, 146, 148, 153, 157, 158, 166–168, 172, 174–176] required Deqi (needle sensation) during acupuncture stimulation.
56 studies [10, 14–18, 28, 35, 38, 42, 43, 50, 53, 55, 57, 58, 61, 64, 66, 68, 69, 71, 73, 75–77, 87, 89–91, 93–96, 99–101, 103, 104, 106–111, 115, 117, 120, 124, 127–130, 140, 166, 169] have evaluated needle sensation after acupuncture stimulation. The 10-point Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), the Massachusetts General Hospital Acupuncture Sensation Scale (MASS), the Subject Acupuncture Sensation Scale (SASS), the 6-point Likert scale, the Park questionnaire, the Psychophysical Rating of Needling Sensation, and the Needle Sensation Questionnaire (NSQ) were used to evaluate the needle sensation (Figure 4).

3.4.4. Qualification of Acupuncturists
99 articles [12, 14–19, 22–24, 26, 28, 29, 31–42, 44, 46–50, 52, 54–61, 63, 64, 66, 67, 69, 71, 72, 75, 78, 80, 82–84, 86, 87, 89–91, 93–98, 100–104, 106, 108–112, 114–117, 119–124, 126–129, 133, 135, 139, 140, 142, 144, 150, 158, 166, 174] have mentioned the qualification of acupuncturists.