Acupoint therapy is one of the therapeutic means in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) concerning acupoints and meridians,\nincluding manual acupuncture, electroacupuncture,moxibustion, external application, acupoint injection, and catgut embedding.\nIn the treatment of diabetes and its common chronic complications, acupoint therapy has proved to have specific curative effect and\nnotable advantages. Single or combined with western medicine, it has superior efficacy and less side effects than western medicine\nalone. Studying its mechanism can provide experimental basis for clinical treatment. Relevant researches in the recent 5 years\nmainly focused on the mechanism of electroacupuncture, point injection, catgut embedding, etc. in the treatment of diabetes and\ncommon diabetic complications such as neuropathy, nephropathy, and hepatopathy. The possible theories involve the regulation\nof nerve conduction, signal pathways, hormone level, protein expression, oxidative stress level, structure restoration, etc.The most\nstudied acupoints are Zusanli (ST36), Shenshu (BL23), Sanyinjiao (SP6), Yishu (EX-B3), and Zhongwan (CV12). However, most\nof the studies have been based on diabetes model rats rather than clinical trials. Moreover, the mechanism of acupoint therapy\ntreating other chronic complications like diabetic retinopathy and that of other effective methods like pressing ear with beans,\nauricular points plaster therapy, and external application remain unclear. Therefore, this aspect still awaits further research.
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