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Background: Considering the importance of cardiac rehabilitation after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and the development of acupuncture over the past few decades, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of acupuncture on patients' exercise tolerance, heart rate and blood pressure after CABG., Methods: Thirty-four patients with a history of recent CABG were recruited between 2019 and 2020 for this clinical trial and randomly divided into two groups receiving acupuncture plus cardiac rehabilitation (group A) and cardiac rehabilitation alone (group B). In both groups, exercise-based rehabilitation exercise was performed. Group A additionally received acupuncture at PC6, PC4, HT7 and GB20 bilaterally. Changes in blood pressure, heart rate and Borg scale score were evaluated before, during and after the course of the treatment., Results: Heart rate was significantly lower in group A compared to group B after completion of the course of the treatment (P = 0.022). However, there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups in systolic or diastolic blood pressure or Borg scale scores (P > 0.05). Nevertheless, the Borg scale scores showed a significant decrease within each group over time (P < 0.001), reflecting an improvement in the patients' ability to tolerate activity after cardiac rehabilitation with or without acupuncture., Conclusion: Acupuncture in combination with exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation was more effective at decreasing heart rate than cardiac rehabilitation alone after CABG. Both approaches appeared to be similarly effective at improving exercise tolerance. In this study, the addition of acupuncture at the aforementioned traditional acupuncture point locations to exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation did not affect blood pressure., Trial Registration Number: IRCT20171208037793N1 (Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials)., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Background: Patients with chronic kidney disease, as a common disorder, usually necessitate the implementation of hemodialysis. Muscle cramps are one of the most disabling complications affecting their quality of life., Objectives: We aimed to investigate the efficacy of acupuncture as a safe alternative to the management of pain severity and frequency of calf cramps in dialysis patients compared to a control group., Methods: Fifty dialysis patients experiencing calf cramps who met the eligibility criteria were randomly allocated to two groups. Group A received routine management, including analgesic consumption, stretching exercises, and nine acupuncture sessions, including acupoints BL57, GV26, CV4, CV6, LV3, KI 1, LU7, LU9, and GB34. Group B underwent sham acupuncture therapy at locations other than the primary acupoints in addition to following the specified routine management. The pain severity was measured using the visual analog scale (VAS), and the daily frequency of calf cramps was evaluated at baseline and one month after treatment completion., Results: VAS scores and the frequency of calf cramps were improved one month after treatment completion in both groups. However, the improvement was significant in group A ( p < 0.001), while it was not statistically significant in group B ( p > 0.05). There was also a significant difference between both groups regarding reducing pain and the frequency of calf cramps, which showed the efficacy of acupuncture compared to the control group ( p < 0.0001)., Conclusion: Acupuncture can decrease pain and frequency of calf cramps in dialysis patients.

Background: Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) accounts for more than half of all adult cardiac surgeries worldwide. Post-operative chest pain is a common CABG complication and can cause significant discomfort., Objectives: Because taking large amounts of analgesics can have many side effects, we evaluated whether acupuncture effectively reduces pain and the use of analgesics by CABG patients., Methods: In this clinical trial, 30 patients who had recently undergone CABG were randomly allocated to two groups. For both groups, exercise therapy and routine analgesics were recommended. The intervention group underwent bilateral acupuncture in distinct acupoints, including the HT3, HT4, HT5, HT6, HT7, PC3, PC5, PC6, and PC7 for 10 daily sessions constantly. Visual analog scale (VAS) and analgesic use were evaluated in both groups at baseline and after completing the 10-day treatment., Results: Our analysis revealed significant decreases in the mean VAS scores in both the intervention and the control group, and that the reduction was more significant in the acupuncture group ( p < 0.001). Moreover, analgesic use was significantly lower in the acupuncture group when compared with the control group ( p < 0.001)., Conclusion: Our findings highlight acupuncture as an alternative method of controlling CABG-associated post-operative chest pain and reducing the use of analgesics, which might have many side effects.