{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,26]],"date-time":"2026-06-26T15:51:08Z","timestamp":1782489068238,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,9,25]],"date-time":"2020-09-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1600992000000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":24,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100005892","name":"China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["ZZ13-YQ-019"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ZZ13-YQ-019"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100005892","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["BMJ Open"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,23]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2020,9]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Plantar fasciitis (PF) is reported to be the most common cause of plantar heel pain. Acupuncture has been used for patients experiencing PF, but evidence of the efficacy of acupuncture on PF is limited. The primary objective of this trial is to compare combined acupuncture and sham acupuncture (SA) versus waitlist control for improving the level of pain experienced by patients suffering from chronic PF.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods and analysis<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This will be a two-centre, parallel-group, sham and no-treatment controlled, assessor-blinded randomised trial. We will randomly allocate 120 participants with chronic PF to acupuncture, SA and waitlist control groups at a ratio of 2:1:1. Participants in the acupuncture and SA groups will receive a 30\u2009min acupuncture or SA treatment for a total of 12 sessions over 4 weeks, with a 12-week follow-up. Participants in the waitlist control group will not undergo treatment for a period of 16 weeks but instead will have the option of 4 weeks (12 sessions) of acupuncture free of charge at the end of the follow-up period. The primary outcome will be the treatment response rate 4 weeks after randomisation, assessed as a minimum of 50% improvement in the worst pain intensity during the first steps in the morning compared with the baseline. All analyses will be performed with a two-sided p value of &lt;0.05 considered significant following the intention-to-treat principle.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Ethics and dissemination<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The study has been approved by the Ethical Committee of the Guang\u2019anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences (approval no. 2019-210-KY). The results will be disseminated through presentation at a peer-reviewed medical journal, the relevant conferences and scientific meetings.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Trial registration<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      <jats:ext-link xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\" ext-link-type=\"clintrialgov\" specific-use=\"clinicaltrial pre-results\" xlink:href=\"NCT04185259\">NCT04185259<\/jats:ext-link>\n                      .\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2020-036773","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,9,25]],"date-time":"2020-09-25T17:35:54Z","timestamp":1601055354000},"page":"e036773","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Efficacy of acupuncture versus sham acupuncture or waitlist control for patients with chronic plantar fasciitis: study protocol for a two-centre randomised controlled trial"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"10","clinical-trial-number":[{"clinical-trial-number":"nct04185259","registry":"10.18810\/clinical-trials-gov","type":"preResults"},{"clinical-trial-number":"nct04185259","registry":"10.18810\/clinical-trials-gov"}],"author":[{"given":"Weiming","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Acupuncture and Moxibustion Department, China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine Guang\u2019anmen Hospital, Xicheng District, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sixing","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Acupuncture\u2013Moxibustion and Tuina, Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guiyang City, Guizhou, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yan","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Chinese Internal Medicine of Ministry of Education, Dongzhimen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhiwei","family":"Zang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Acupuncture, Yantai Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Yantai, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Weina","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Acupuncture and Moxibustion Department, China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine Guang\u2019anmen Hospital, Xicheng District, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Liang","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ultrasound, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences Guanganmen Hospital, Xicheng District, Beijing, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7570-8917","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zhishun","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Acupuncture and Moxibustion Department, China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine Guang\u2019anmen Hospital, Xicheng District, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,9,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026062608042855000_10.9.e036773.1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5435\/00124635-199703000-00006"},{"key":"2026062608042855000_10.9.e036773.2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"339","DOI":"10.1016\/j.mcna.2013.10.009","article-title":"Plantar heel pain","volume":"98","author":"Rosenbaum","year":"2014","journal-title":"Med Clin North 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