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BackgroundPoststroke shoulder pain limits stroke survivors’ physical functioning, impairs their ability to perform daily activities, and compromises their quality of life. The use of acupuncture to manage shoulder pain after a stroke is believed to free the blockage of energy flow and produce analgesic effects, but the evidence is unclear. We therefore conducted a systematic review to summarize the current evidence on the effects of acupuncture on the recovery outcomes of stroke survivors with shoulder pain.MethodsFourteen English and Chinese databases were searched for data from January 2009 to August 2017. The review included adult participants with a clinical diagnosis of ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke who had developed shoulder pain and had undergone conventional acupuncture, electroacupuncture, fire needle acupuncture, or warm needle acupuncture. The participants in the comparison group received the usual stroke care only.ResultsTwenty-nine randomized controlled trials were included. Most studies were assessed as having a substantial risk of bias. Moreover, due to the high heterogeneity of the acupuncture therapies examined, pooling the results in a meta-analysis was not appropriate. A narrative summary of the results is thus presented. The review showed that conventional acupuncture can be associated with benefits in reducing pain and edema and improving upper extremity function and physical function. The effects of conventional acupuncture on improving shoulder range of motion (ROM) are in doubt because this outcome was only examined in two trials. Electroacupuncture might be effective in reducing shoulder pain and improving upper extremity function, and conclusions on the effects of electroacupuncture on edema, shoulder ROM, and physical function cannot be drawn due to the limited number of eligible trials. The evidence to support the use of fire needle or warm needle acupuncture in stroke survivors with shoulder pain is also inconclusive due to the limited number of studies.ConclusionAlthough most studies reviewed concluded that conventional and electroacupuncture could be effective for management of shoulder pain after stroke, the very high potential for bias should be considered. Further work in this area is needed that employs standardized acupuncture treatment modalities, endpoint assessments, and blinding of treatments.

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Background International guidelines advocate providing prompt structured education to individuals with diabetes at diagnosis. However, among the few eligible structured education programs, heterogeneous intervention regimens and inconsistent findings were reported. Eligible programs for Chinese individuals with diabetes are lacking. This study aimed to investigate the effects of a nurse-led integrative medicine-based structured education program on self-management behaviors, glycemic control and self-efficacy among individuals with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes. Methods Employing a randomized controlled trial, 128 individuals with type 2 diabetes diagnosed in the preceding three to nine months were recruited from four university-affiliated tertiary hospitals in Xi’an City, Northwest China, and randomly allocated to the intervention or control groups after baseline assessments. Participants in the intervention group received a 4-week nurse-led integrative medicine-based structured education program, which is theoretically based on the Health Belief Model and Self-Efficacy Theory, in line with updated diabetes management guidelines, and informed by relevant systematic reviews. Participants in the control group received routine care. Self-management behaviors and self-efficacy were measured with the Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities and the Diabetes Management Self-Efficacy Scale at baseline, immediate post-intervention and 12 weeks following the intervention while Glycated Hemoglobin A was measured at baseline and the 12th-week follow-up. The intervention effects were estimated using the generalized estimating equation models. Results Participants in the intervention group exhibited significantly better self-management performance in specific diet regarding intake of fruits and vegetables at both follow-ups (β = 1.02, p = 0.011 and β = 0.98, p = 0.016, respectively), specific diet regarding intake of high-fat foods at the immediate post-intervention follow-up (β = 0.83, p = 0.023), blood glucose monitoring at the 12th-week follow-up (β = 0.64, p = 0.004), foot care at both follow-ups (β = 1.80, p <  0.001 and β = 2.02, p <  0.001, respectively), and medication management at both follow-ups (β = 0.83, p = 0.005 and β = 0.95, p = 0.003, respectively). The intervention also introduced significant improvements in Glycated Hemoglobin A (β = − 0.32%, p <  0.001), and self-efficacy at both follow-ups (β = 8.73, p <  0.001 and β = 9.71, p <  0.001, respectively). Conclusions The nurse-led integrative medicine-based structured education program could produce beneficial effects on multiple diabetes self-management behaviors, glycemic control and self-efficacy. Trial registration This study was retrospectively registered in the ClinicalTrials.gov. on 25/08/2017; registration number: NCT03261895.