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Safe needling depths of upper back acupoints in children: a retrospective study

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies, February 2016
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Title
Safe needling depths of upper back acupoints in children: a retrospective study
Published in
BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies, February 2016
DOI 10.1186/s12906-016-1060-x
Pubmed ID
Authors

Yi-Chun Ma, Ching-Tien Peng, Yu-Chuen Huang, Hung-Yi Lin, Jaung-Geng Lin

Abstract

Acupuncture is applied for treating numerous conditions in children, but few studies have examined the safe needling depth of acupoints in the pediatric population. In this study, we investigated the depths to which acupuncture needles can be inserted safely in the upper back acupoints of children and the variations in safe depth according to sex, age, weight, and body mass index (BMI). We retrospectively studied computed tomography (CT) images of patients aged 4 to 18 years who underwent chest CT at China Medical University Hospital between December 2004 and May 2013. The safe depths of 23 upper back acupoints in the Governor Vessel (GV), Bladder Meridian (BL), Small Intestine Meridian (SI), Gallbladder Meridian (GB) and Spleen Meridian (SP) were measured directly from the CT images. The relationships between the safe depths of these acupoints and sex, age, body weight, and BMI were analyzed. The results indicated significant differences in safe needling depth between boys and girls in most upper back acupoints, except at BL42, BL44, BL45, BL46, GB21 and SP21. Safe depths differed significantly depending on age (p < 0.001), weight (p ≤ 0.01), and BMI (p < 0.05). Multiple regression analysis revealed that weight was the most crucial factor in determining the safe depth. Sex, age, weight, and BMI are relevant factors in determining the safe needling depths of upper back acupoints in children. Physicians should pay attention to wide variations in needle depth when performing acupuncture.

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Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 25 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Bachelor 5 20%
Student > Master 4 16%
Other 2 8%
Lecturer 2 8%
Researcher 2 8%
Other 5 20%
Unknown 5 20%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 11 44%
Nursing and Health Professions 2 8%
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science 1 4%
Arts and Humanities 1 4%
Computer Science 1 4%
Other 3 12%
Unknown 6 24%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 29 February 2016.
All research outputs
#17,790,561
of 22,852,911 outputs
Outputs from BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies
#2,351
of 3,632 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#202,370
of 297,542 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies
#42
of 69 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,852,911 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 19th percentile – i.e., 19% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 3,632 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 8.5. This one is in the 30th percentile – i.e., 30% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 297,542 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 27th percentile – i.e., 27% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 69 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 39th percentile – i.e., 39% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.