Am J Chin Med. 1975 Apr; 3(2): 165-79.

The clinical response of 328 private patients to acupuncture therapy.

Shifman AC.

It is the attempt of this study to determine the efficacy of response to acupuncture at 24 hours, one week, and three week intervals at the end of a series of treatments in 328 patients. Treated for a variety of disorders, approximately 60% had satisfactory responses of up to 3 weeks duration. The 328 patients were classified into 13 categories of problem disorders: headaches, cervical pain, lumbar pain without radiation, lumbar pain with radiation, isolated sciatica, parathoracic pain, knee pain, elbow pain, shoulder pain, gereralized musculoskeletal pains (rheumatism), neurological disorders, and a general miscellaneous category. The problem disorders were then arranged into etiological categories. In general for each problem disorder, except for neurological, the average response ranged in the 60-65% range at the third week interval.