Table 3.

The time to bowel sounds recovery, time to first flatus, and first defecation.

Variable	Acupuncture (n = 59)	Acupoint injection (n = 67)	Intramuscular injection (n = 67)	Standard therapy (n = 53)	P value
T to bowel sound recovery, h	35.54 ±2.67	1.88 ± 0.51	7.15 ± 1.21	38.94 ± 1.65	0.281*, < 0.01†, < 0.01‡, < 0.01#
T to first flatus, h	40.34 ± 2.22	2.30 ±0.56	8.13 ± 1.38	44.15± 1.69	0.175*, < 0.01†, < 0.01‡, < 0.01#
T to first defecation, h	47.44 ± 1.56	2.43 ± 0.61	9.78 ± 1.66	50.02 ± 1.63	0.256*, < 0.01†, < 0.01‡, < 0.01#

^* Acupuncture VS. standard therapy. ^† Acupoint injection VS. standard therapy. ^‡ Intramuscular injection VS. standard therapy. ^#Acupoint injection VS. intramuscular injection.