Acupuncture Improves Flexibility: Acute Effect of Acupuncture Before a Static Stretch of Hip Adductors
Abstract
Background: Acupuncture has been used for many years to treat illnesses and seems to have benefits when combined with other interventions such as exercise, although little investigation has been done of this relationship.
Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the acute effect of acupuncture on the maximum range of motion of hip abduction.
Design, Setting, and Subjects: This study was a randomized controlled trial carried out on 44 healthy and untrained undergraduate students at a university located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Intervention: Subjects were randomly assigned to four groups and received one session of acupuncture treatment, followed by four sets of static stretches of the hip abductors. Group 1 (G1) participants were treated with acupuncture in five points (acupoints), followed by stretching of the hip abductors (n = 10). Group 2 (G2) was given the acupuncture treatment in the adductor magnus muscle (no-acupoints), also followed by stretching of the hip abductors (n = 12). Group 3 (G3), the control group, was given a placebo acupuncture treatment succeeded by stretching of the hip abductors (n = 10). Group 4 (G4) received treatment of just the acupoints, with no stretching (n = 12).
Main Outcome Measure: Maximum range of motion of hip abduction was evaluated with a flexometer before and after intervention.
Results: There was a significant increase in the amplitude of hip abduction when measures before and after the intervention were compared in G1 (P = 0.007; confidence interval [CI] 95%, = −7.46 to −1.54) and G2 (P = 0.009; CI95% = −13.14 to −2.36). There was no significant difference in the comparison between groups (P = 0.399).
Conclusions: The results have demonstrated that the accomplishment of an acupuncture application in acupoints and no-acupoints before exercises of static stretching can generate an acute significant increase on hip range of motion.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Medical Acupuncture
Volume 23 • Issue Number 1 • March 2011
Pages: 27 - 33
Copyright
Copyright 2011, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
History
Published online: 18 March 2011
Published in print: March 2011
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No competing financial interests exist.
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