TEAS intervention
numbness
The patient’s surgical side to side “Hegu” (LI4, located in the back of the hand, between the first and second metacarpals, the middle point of the radial side of the second metacarpal), “Neiguan” (PC6, located on the anterior aspect of the forearm, 2 inches on the wrist stripes, between the flexor tendon of the radial wrist and the long tendon of the palm) and “Zusanli” (ST36, located on the tibialis anterior muscle, 4 transverse fingers under the external knee, TEAS intervention was performed by opening 1 transverse finger point beside tibial margin) were selected as the acupoints for intervention. Before the gel electrode sheet was pasted on the skin of each patient, the skin surface of the acupoint was wiped clear with clean water, and the skin surface of the acupoint was degreased with 75% alcohol and dried; then, the gel electrode sheet was attached to LI4, PC6 and ST36 with tight pressing. The parameters of the acupoint nerve stimulator were set as follows: time, 30 min before anesthesia induction until the end of surgery; frequency, 2/100 Hz; intensity, < 10 mA (if the stimulation intensity was too high, the patient felt uncomfortable, and the stimulation intensity was reduced and gradually adjusted to the maximum intensity that the patient could tolerate). The placebo-type Han’s acupoint nerve stimulator (Sham TEAS) was used in the Sham TEAS group, while the therapeutic Han’s acupoint nerve stimulator (HANS-200 A, Nanjing Jisheng Medical Technology Co., LTD.) was used in the TEAS group. The two instruments had the same appearance and could both cause numbness in acupoints, but the placebo-type Han’s acupoint nerve stimulator had no therapeutic effect [
Location of acupoints