A large retrospective cohort study undertaken in Korea, suggests that acupuncture is effective at reducing the likelihood of shoulder surgery. Using the Korean health service database, researchers compared the frequency of acromioplasty in patients who had previously received acupuncture, with those who had not. Shoulder disorders which featured included adhesive capsulitis, rotator cuff syndrome, shoulder impingement syndrome, and local sprain and strain. The acupuncture group contained over 111 000 patients, and the control group over 71 000 patients.
The study found that the frequency of acromioplasty was reduced in patients who had received acupuncture.
(Acromioplasty rates in patients with shoulder disorders with and without acupuncture treatment: a retrospective propensity score-matched cohort study. Acupuncture in Medicine, 20 April 2020.)