Bacon Ng

• OTD & DHS
• Professor of Practice (Occupational Threapy) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Background Heterogeneous clinical conditions were observed in individuals who had recovered from COVID-19 and some symptoms were found to persist for an extended period post-COVID. Given the non-specific nature of the symptoms, Chinese medicine (CM) is advantageous in providing holistic medical assessment for individuals experiencing persisting pro...

Background: Tinnitus is a common auditory condition that can lead to serious problems. Clinically, acupuncture and moxibustion have been commonly applied to treat tinnitus in China, with potential therapeutic effects but with limitations in study methodology and high-quality evidence. Therefore, we designed a randomized controlled trial to evaluat...

Background: Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a common degenerative joint condition that causes disability and pain in the elderly population. The prevalence of KOA among persons aged 63 or above is approximately 30%. Previous studies have reported the positive effects of Tui-na treatment and the Chinese herbal formula Du-Huo-Ji-Sheng Decoction (DHJSD)...

Background Patients with post-stroke depression (PSD) usually experience anxiety, hopelessness, and insomnia, which have a negative impact on their daily activities and post-stroke rehabilitation. Acupuncture (AC), as a minimally invasive technique, has become a popular choice for improving depression symptoms. However, it is still unclear which th...

Objective Olfactory dysfunction (OD) is a common symptom of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). It is defined as the reduced or distorted ability to smell during sniffing (orthonasal olfaction) and represents one of the early symptoms in the clinical course of COVID-19 infection. A large online questionnaire-based survey has shown that some post-...

Background Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a common degenerative joint condition that causes disability and pain in the elderly population. The prevalence of KOA among persons aged 63 or above is approximately 30%. Previous studies have reported the positive effect of Tui-na treatment and the Chinese herbal formula Du-Huo-Ji-Sheng Decoction (DHJSD) fo...

Objectives This study aimed to evaluate the effects of Chinese Medicine (CM) on the health condition of the post-COVID-19 patients, particularly with the CM Syndrome diagnosis and Body Constitutions (BC), as well as related clinical characteristics. Methods 150 participants who had COVID-19 and discharged from Hong Kong public hospitals were recru...

Background Acupuncture combined with auricular acupressure has been used as a complementary and alternative treatment for smoking cessation in Hong Kong for over 10 years. This study aimed to investigate the success rates of smoking cessation posttreatment, and to evaluate treatment effects on tobacco dependence, smoking behavior, anxiety levels, a...

Background : Acupuncture has been an alternative approach for de Quervain's tenosynovitis (DQt), but trial evidence is still lacking. Purpose : This study aimed to assess the efficacy of acupuncture in patients with DQt. Study Design : A randomized controlled trial. Methods : A total of 68 subjects with DQt were recruited from outpatients of Dep...

Background: Acupuncture combined with auricular acupressure has been used as a complementary and alternative treatment for smoking cessation in Hong Kong for over 10 years. This study aimed to verify its therapeutic effects and safety for smoking cessation and to evaluate its effects on tobacco dependence, smoking behavior, anxiety levels and sleep...

Background: Constipation is a common problem among advanced cancer patients; however, many of them find limited effective from current therapies. Thus, we aimed to test the effect of a traditional Chinese herbal formula, modified MaZiRenWan (MZRW), by comparing with placebo among palliative cancer patients with constipation. Methods: This is a r...

Objective: To develop a clinical practice guideline to guide the treatment of low back pain by acupuncture. Methods: An integrative approach of systematic review of literature, clinical evidence classification, expert opinion surveying, and consensus establishing via a Delphi program was utilized during the developing process. Both evidence-base...

Objective: To develop a clinical practice guideline to guide the treatment of low back pain by acupuncture. Methods: An integrative approach of systematic review of literature, clinical evidence classification, expert opinion surveying, and consensus establishing via a Delphi program was utilized during the developing process. Both evidence-base...

Background: Depression is one of the most common complications after stroke, with a prevalence of 30-33%. Patients with post-stroke depression (PSD) usually experience anxiety, hopelessness, and insomnia, which have a negative impact on their daily activities and post-stroke rehabilitation. In this review, we aimed to explore the impact of acupunct...

Background: Olfactory dysfunction (OD) was recognized as one of common symptom of COVID-19. OD, defined as the reduced or distorted ability to smell during sniffing (orthonasal olfaction) and may represent one of early symptoms in the clinical course of COVID-19 infection. A large online questionnaire-based survey found that some of post COVID-19 p...

The COVID-19 pandemic has lasted for more than 16 months, and there have been over 169 million confirmed cases worldwide. Besides, after treatment with Western medicine or undergoing home quarantine, COVID-19 patients are still severely or mildly functionally impaired. Though COVID-19 patients were discharged from the hospital, most of them still e...

Background––Stroke is a major cause of death or long-term disability worldwide. Many patients with stroke receive integrative therapy consisting of Western medicine (WM) and routine rehabilitation in conjunction with Chinese medicine (CM), such as acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. However, there is no available evidence on the effectiveness...

Background Postprandial distress syndrome manifests as a feeling of fullness and early satiation that can significantly reduce the quality of life of the patients. In Chinese medicine (CM), the syndrome is traditionally regarded as the Wei-Pi syndrome, and Banxia Xiexin decoction (BXD) has been used in the empirical treatment of the same for a long...

Background Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a common degenerative joint condition that causes disability and pain amongst the elderly. The prevalence of KOA among persons aged 63 or above is approximately 30%. It is estimated that around 10% of the Hong Kong residents will have KOA by the year 2036. Previous studies have reported the positive effect of...

Background Chemotherapy usually induces a variety of side-effects in cancer treatment as it cannot tell normal cells apart from cancer cells and kills both. Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) has been regarded as a potential effective intervention for relieving the side-effects of chemotherapy in breast cancer patients. Objective This study aims to con...

Background: Stroke in Chinese Medicine (CM) includes the concepts of ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes from Western Medicine and is a common disease in Hong Kong. This clinical practice guideline (CPG) aims to evaluate and demonstrate CM treatment options for stroke, provide guideline for local CM practice, and act as a reference for decision makers...

Objective To investigate the therapeutic effects of electroacupuncture plus warm needling (EAWN) therapy on pain and foot function in adults with plantar heel pain (PHP). Methods This prospective, randomised, parallel-group, waitlist-controlled trial was conducted at a Chinese medicine centre in Hong Kong between May 2018 and February 2019. Eighty...

Introduction Insomnia in Chinese Medicine could be defined as inability to sleep or inability to relax when lying down. Insomnia is common among people living in Hong Kong and requires appropriate management. Approximately 39.4% of adults are suffering from insomnia in Hong Kong, a significant proportion of whom seek Chinese Medicine (CM) therapies...

Objectives Qigong has been shown to effectively reduce depressive symptoms in older adults with chronic physical illness. Here we sought to evaluate the effects of qigong on serotonin, cortisol, and BDNF levels, and test their roles as potential mediators of the effects of qigong on depressive symptoms. Methods Thirty older adults with chronic phy...

Background Although acupuncture has been shown to be effective at treating overactive bladder (OAB) following stroke, to our knowledge, no randomized controlled trial (RCT) examining the effects of acupuncture on patients with post-stroke OAB has been conducted. The aim of this preliminary study was to explore the effects of electroacupuncture (EA)...

Background: Colorectal cancer is the most common cancer in Hong Kong. Oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy is a major first-line conventional therapy for advanced and metastatic colorectal cancer. However, oxaliplatin causes chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). Acupuncture has long been used to alleviate limb numbness in Chinese medicine....

Background: Allergic rhinitis (AR) is a common disease. No evidence is available for the clinical application of acupuncture and moxibustion for the management of AR symptoms in Hong Kong. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of acupuncture with or without herbal moxibustion on relieving AR symptoms in the Hong Kong population....

Background: Colorectal cancer is the most common cancer in Hong Kong. Oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy is a major first-line conventional therapy for advanced and metastatic colorectal cancer. However, oxaliplatin causes chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). Acupuncture has long been used to alleviate limb numbness in Chinese Medicine Pr...

Aim: Acupuncture has benefits in the rehabilitation of neuropsychiatric sequelae of stroke. This study was aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of dense cranial electroacupuncture stimulation plus body acupuncture (DCEAS+BA) in treating poststroke depression (PSD), functional disability, and cognitive deterioration. Methods: In this assessor- and...

Background: Colorectal cancer is the most common cancer in Hong Kong. Oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy is a major first-line conventional therapy for advanced and metastatic colorectal cancer. However, oxaliplatin causes chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). Acupuncture has long been used to alleviate limb numbness in Chinese Medicine Pr...

Background: Heel pain is a common foot disorder that causes pain and functional limitations. The prevalence of disabling foot pain will increase as the population ages. Previous studies have reported the positive therapeutic effects of electroacupuncture, warm needling, or the combination of both for heel pain but with limitations in the study met...

Background: Colorectal cancer is the most common cancer in Hong Kong. Oxaliplatin based chemotherapy is a major first-line conventional therapy for advanced and metastatic colorectal cancer. However, oxaliplatin causes chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). Acupuncture has been recognized as one of the effective intervention for prevent...

It is common for patients with cancers in Hong Kong seeking Chinese Medicine (CM) therapies as supportive care during cancer treatment and to manage treatment-related side effects. This article provides clinical practice guideline (CPG) on the use of CM for specific clinical indications caused by cancer and during cancer treatment, including pain,...

Guidelines for clinical trials of acupuncture are scarce, particularly in their guidance on choosing an adequate control in an acupuncture trial. This guideline was developed to address the research methodology for clinical research in acupuncture which contains the essential elements to be considered in the design, preparation and reporting of an...

Background: Sinew acupuncture is a new modality of acupuncture in which needles are inserted into acupoints, ashi points or spasm points of sinew and muscles along the meridian sinew pathway. A previous observational study revealed that sinew acupuncture has immediate analgesic effects on various soft tissue injuries, including knee injuries. Howe...

Objective Acupuncture and related therapies such as moxibustion and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation are frequently used in the management of cancer-related symptoms. Their effectiveness and safety of acupuncture and related therapies are discussed controversial. The authors aim was to provide an overview to summarise the evidence on acu...

Objective This study aims to provide evidence regarding the clinical efficacy of abdominal acupuncture for neck pain. Methods This randomized, patient and assessor-blind, sham-controlled trial was conducted at a Chinese medicine center in Hong Kong between November 2014 and March 2016. A total of 154 eligible participants (age range, 18–65 years)...

Standards for Reporting Interventions in Clinical Trials of Acupuncture checklist. (PDF)

Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials checklist. (PDF)

Study protocol. (PDF)

Primary and secondary outcome measures over time in Group A. (PDF)

Analgesic effects of acupuncture have been extensively studied in various clinical trials. However, the conclusion remains controversial, even among large scale randomized controlled trials. This study aimed to evaluate the association between the conclusion of the trials and the types of control used in those trials via systematic review. Publishe...

Background Obesity is an increasingly prevalent chronic condition that is associated with serious morbidity and mortality. Excess body weight is a risk factor contributing to diseases such as hypertension, heart disease, hypercholesterolaemia, diabetes mellitus, cerebrovascular disease, gall bladder disease, and some types of cancer. Almost all the...

Stomach pain in Chinese medicine (CM) is a very common disorder in clinical practice and it has been listed as one of the pilot three conditions in Hong Kong to develop evidence-based CM clinical practice guidelines (CM CPGs). The aim of this stomach Pain CPG is to summarize the treatment methods of stomach pain with CM and evaluate reasonably, the...

Available systematic reviews showed uncertainty on the effectiveness of using acupuncture and related therapies for palliative cancer care. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to summarize current best evidence on acupuncture and related therapies for palliative cancer care. Five international and 3 Chinese databases were search...

Use of Chinese herbal medicines (CHM) in symptom management for cancer palliative care is very common in Chinese populations but clinical evidence on their effectiveness is yet to be synthesized. To conduct a systematic review with meta-analysis to summarize results from CHM randomized controlled trials (RCTs) focusing on symptoms that are undertre...

Chinese herbal medicines (CHM) are often used in managing cancer related symptoms but their effectiveness and safety is controversial. We conducted this overview of meta-analyses to summarize evidence on CHM for cancer palliative care. We included systematic reviews (SRs) with meta-analyses of CHM clinical trials on patients diagnosed with any type...

Acupuncture and related therapies such as moxibustion and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation are often used to manage cancer-related symptoms, but their effectiveness and safety are controversial. We conducted this overview to summarise the evidence on acupuncture for palliative care of cancer. Our systematic review synthesised the results...

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatments are often prescribed based on individuals’ pattern diagnoses. A systematic review of randomized controlled trials in Chinese and English literatures on TCM pattern-based treatment for depression has therefore been conducted. A total of 61 studies, 2504 subjects, and 27 TCM patterns were included. Due to...

The aim of the study was to identify the predictors of functioning in Chinese people with serious mental illness. Mental healthcare services for people suffering from serious mental illness are delivered to not only minimise their psychiatric symptoms but also enhance their levels of functioning in the community. Yet, there is insufficient research...

We presented a study protocol of developing Chinese medicine clinical practice guidelines for three common diseases in Hong Kong, including insomnia, chronic gastritis, and cerebral infarction. This research project will be conducted in three phases. First phase is the preparation stage which consists of the establishment of steering committee and...

Previous validation studies of the Chalder Fatigue Scale (CFS) suffer methodological shortcomings. The present study aimed to re-evaluate its psychometric properties using exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM). A Chinese sample of 1259 community-dwelling residents completed the 11-item Chinese CFS and a variety of health measures (anxiety...

Objective: To systematically review the clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for ischemic stroke in Chinese medicine (CM) with the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE II) instrument. Methods: CM CPGs for ischemic stroke were searched in 5 online databases and hand-searches in CPG-related handbooks published from January 199...

Background: Qigong (QG) and tai chi (TC), alternative forms of exercise based on traditional Chinese medicine, are reported to be beneficial to patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This systematic review analyzed the evidence and made recommendations for clinical applications and future research. Methods: Key words "qigong...

Background: Our previous studies showed Qigong exercise may reduce fatigue level of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Sleep disturbance is a common complaint in CFS. However, few studies investigated it. Objectives: Effects of Qigong exercise on sleep quality and fatigue were assessed. The correlations between changes of sleep quality a...

OBJECTIVES. To develop a questionnaire for measuring the perceived importance of the elements of mental health recovery in psychiatric inpatients in Hong Kong and to test the psychometric properties of the questionnaire. METHODS. Thematic content analysis of identified literature on mental health recovery was performed to identify the elements rela...

Objective To assess the accuracy of translated instructions, items, content relevance, test–-retest reliability and interrater reliability of the Chinese version of three selected modules of the VALPAR Pro3000 Modular Assessment System for assessing persons with mental illness: (1) computerised assessment (COMPASS); (2) Physical, Environmental and...

Questions have been raised about the applicability of Western theory in an Eastern context. Two case studies are used to illustrate how the Model of Human Occupation (MOHO) is useful in problem identification and intervention planning in Hong Kong. The cases illustrate that MOHO provides useful insights to how Chinese culture influences participati...

Agitated behaviours among persons with dementia are distressing to both patients and their caregivers. As pharmacological interventions may be limited by their potentially adverse effects, the use of complementary therapies for treatment of agitation has become more popular and aromatherapy is the fastest growing one. This study investigates the ef...

Employment history is known to be a consistent predictor of vocational functioning of people with mental illness. A review of the literature, however, shows that studies that describe the employment pattern of those with psychiatric disabilities are limited. This study aimed to explore the employment histories and job profiles of people with severe...

This paper describes a clinical protocol (Goal Attainment Program, GAP) designed to assist people with severe mental illness to formulate realistic life goals. The clinical protocol adopted an individualized approach and was structured in a four-stage development sequence from affirming the individual's personal worth, imaging the new ways of livin...

An on-line job information system facilitating the vocational rehabilitation process for use by rehabilitation professionals, people with psychiatric disabilities, and their relatives are to be developed in Hong Kong. The preferred functions and features of the system were collected by a questionnaire survey among 90 occupational therapists, social...

Fifty participants with mental illness and a concrete discharge plan were selected from two mental hospitals in Hong Kong and assessed on their Psychosocial support by the Chinese Version of the Significant Others Scale, social vocational competence using the Workshop Behavior Checklist and the Vocational Social Skills Scale, medical history, work...

Post-hospital employment status is an important outcome measure for psychiatric rehabilitation. This paper describes a survey of 118 rehabilitation health professionals in a psychiatric hospital in Hong Kong (a Special Administrative Region of China) to identify important predictors of employment outcome for persons with psychiatric disability. An...

Employment outcomes of patients and their significant predictors has been an area of intensive study in mental health research. A literature review shows that, due to conflicting results of research studies, researchers are still not sure whether or not some clinical and demographic variables are consistent predictors of future vocational performan...

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the newly developed clinical protocol "Goal Attainment Program" to assist psychiatric in-patients in Hong Kong to formulate realistic life goals, with a view to shortening their length of stay and motivating them to join in work rehabilitation. The Goal Attainment Scale for Psychiatric In-patients was valida...