Table 1 Details of acupuncture intervention (according to the Standards for Reporting Interventions in Clinical Trials of Acupuncture (STRICTA) 2010 guidelines Expansion of Item 5 from Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials 2010 guidelines)
Acupuncture rationale | Style of acupuncture | Traditional Chinese Medicine |
Rationale for treatment | Acupuncture has been historically used to treat hypophasis in facial palsy. Additionally, it is known to be a safe treatment used in a wide range of symptoms caused by Bell’s palsy | |
Extent to which treatment varied | The participants in the intervention group all receive the same manual acupuncture treatment | |
Details of needling | Number of needle insertions per individual per session | 8–9 |
Names of the insertion points (uni/bilateral) | BL2, GB14, SJ23, Shangming, LI14 (unilateral, affected side); SJ5, KI6(bilateral) | |
Depth of insertion | 10–30 mm (exact depth shown in Table 2) | |
Response sought | De-qi | |
Needle stimulation | Manual stimulation (exact details are in the text) | |
Needle retention time | 20 min | |
Needle type | 0.30 mm (diameter) × 25 mm (length) disposal needle (Huatuo Acupuncture Inc., Suzhou, China) | |
Treatment regimen | Number of treatment sessions | 12 |
Frequency and duration of treatment sessions | 3 sessions per week for 4 weeks | |
Other components of treatment | Details of other interventions administered to the acupuncture group | No other interventions are done |
Setting and context of treatment | All participants are informed that they will receive acupuncture treatment, which can potentially reduce symptoms of hypophasis; however, the control group will have to complete the evaluations during the first week before receiving the same treatment as the acupuncture group | |
Practitioner background | Description of participating acupuncturists | Specialists in TCM with at least 3 years of practice in acupuncture |
Control or comparator interventions | Rationale for the control or comparator in the context of the research question | Sham acu-point is used as a placebo control |
Precise description of the control or comparator | Placebo control group be given extra acupuncture on a point 1 cm backward to Bi’nao as a placebo point |