Acupuncture is one of the representative complementary and alternative medicine treatments used for various types of pain. This systematic review summarized and analyzed clinical case reports/series utilizing acupuncture for treating sports injuries in athletes, thereby providing the basis for further research to establish clinical evidence on acupuncture treatment in sports medicine. A comprehensive literature search was conducted in Embase including MEDLINE up to 21 August 2019 without language and publication date restrictions. Due to the heterogeneity of each study, explanatory and descriptive analyses were performed. As a result, in each case report/series, it was confirmed that acupuncture was applied for treating various types of sports injuries experienced by athletes. Acupuncture can help relieve short-term pain and recover from dysfunction and has been used as a useful, noninvasive, and conservative modality for managing sports injuries such as lateral meniscus rupture, femoral acetabular impingement, ganglion cysts, and sports hernia. In addition, acupuncture has been suggested as a treatment worth trying for diseases such as yips and delayed onset muscle soreness. The included cases showed some potential of acupuncture in the treatment of various types of sports injuries, beyond pain control in musculoskeletal disorders. However, considering that this review was based on case reports/series, a limited understanding of the clinical value of acupuncture in athletes is required. In the future, more specific research questions and hypotheses should be addressed to generate evidence based on experimental research.

This study aimed to determine whether amplitude modulation (A-mode) ultrasound (US) provides accurate and reliable measurements comparable to those obtained using brightness modulation (B-mode) US under diverse conditions. Thirty healthy participants (15 women and 15 men) underwent measurements of subcutaneous fat thickness (SFT), muscle thickness (MT), and muscle quality (MQ) in the trapezius and biceps brachii muscles using both US modes before and after exercises designed to stimulate the respective muscles. Among the three key indices, the results demonstrated the high validity of the A-mode, with minimal mean differences (MDs) between the two devices less than 0.91 mm and intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs) exceeding 0.95 for all measures. In addition, the correlation coefficients between the error scores and average scores for the trapezius and biceps brachii suggested no evidence of systematic error. The trapezius MT and MQ significantly increased, and the biceps brachii MT significantly increased after the exercises (p < 0.05). Notably, both the A- and B-modes exhibited the same trend in these post-exercise changes in the muscle. This study suggests that low-cost and low-resolution A-mode US provides measurements of SFT, MT, and MQ similar to the more expensive, high-resolution B-mode imaging. A-mode US is an affordable and portable alternative for muscle assessment.

We aimed to determine whether A-mode ultrasound (US) can provide accurate and reliable measurements comparable to those obtained through B-mode US, under diverse conditions. Thirty healthy participants (15 female, 15 male) underwent measurements of subcutaneous fat thickness (SFT), muscle thickness (MT), and muscle quality (MQ) in the trapezius and biceps brachii muscle with both US modes after and before exercises designed to stimulate the respec-tive muscles. In three key indices, the results demonstrated high validity of A-mode, with min-imal mean differences between the two devices less than 0.91mm and intraclass correlation coef-ficients exceeding 0.95 at all measures. Also, Correlation coefficients between error scores and average scores for the trapezius and biceps brachii muscles suggested no evidence of systematic error. The trapezius MT and MQ significantly increased, and biceps brachii MT significantly in-creased after exercise (p<0.05). Notably, both A-mode and B-mode exhibited the same tendency in these post-exercise changes in muscle. This study suggests that low-cost and low-resolution A-mode US provides measurements of SFT, MT, and MQ similar to more expensive, high-resolution B-mode imaging. A-mode US can serve as an affordable and portable alternative for muscle assessment.

Background/Objectives: Tinnitus has been linked to hemodynamic changes. Objective measures capable of monitoring hemodynamic changes during tinnitus treatment remain limited. This study investigated hemodynamic changes during combined acupuncture and moxibustion treatment in patients with subjective tinnitus using photoplethysmography (PPG) and pulsed-wave Doppler ultrasound (PW Doppler). Methods: A retrospective review of 10 patients with subjective tinnitus treated with acupuncture and moxibustion was conducted. Hemodynamic changes were assessed using acceleration photoplethysmogram (APG) indices and PW Doppler parameters. Results: The c/a ratio in APG increased significantly after acupuncture, indicating an acute change in arterial pulse wave characteristics.. Combined acupuncture and moxibustion significantly increased peak systolic velocity (PSV), end-diastolic velocity (EDV), and mean flow velocity (MV), while decreasing the resistive index (RI) in the superficial temporal artery. However, improvements in the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) scores did not consistently align with changes in APG and PW Doppler parameters. Conclusions: These findings suggest that APG and PW Doppler may be useful for objectively assessing acute hemodynamic changes during acupuncture and moxibustion treatment in patients with subjective tinnitus.