Table 3.

Definitions of modalities of acupuncture and related therapies in this overview of systematic review.

Type of intervention	Definition
Manual acupuncture	A traditional Chinese method for treating illness, which uses special thin needles to push into the skin in particular parts of the body.
Auricular acupuncture	One kind of acupuncture treatment method, and place fine needles in specifically designated “puncture points” on the external ear.
Acupoint injection	A method of treating disease by injecting certain medical liquids of TCM drugs or western drugs into certain acupoints.
Electroacupuncture	One type of modern acupuncture technique, and the needle is attached to a trace pulse current after it is inserted into the selected acupoint to produce the synthetic effect of electric and needling stimulation.
Transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation (TENS)	TENS is a non-invasive method, involving the use of a mild electrical current produced by a device to stimulate the nerves in acupoints for treating effect.
Wrist-ankle acupuncture	A modern subcutaneous acupuncture technique that is superficial acupuncture and applied on the specific area of the wrist or the ankle corresponding to the site of pain area to treat a range of pain symptoms throughout the body.
Acupressure	Acupoint pressing is a TCM therapy used with the pulp of the index finger and middle finger to press the specific acupoints, which has the effect of freeing the channels and networks vessels.
Fire needle	Fire needle is a special acupuncture therapy method that uses a needle made of a special material to burn red on the fire, and then quickly stabs the specific parts of the body and acupoints to achieve the purpose of curing diseases.