Table 2 Acupuncture treatment details based on the STRICTA (Macpherson H et al., [12]) checklist

1. Acupuncture rationale

1a) Style of acupuncture

  - Manual acupuncture based on traditional meridian theory.

1b) Reasoning for treatment provided, based on historical context, literature sources, and/or consensus methods, with references where appropriate

  - Based on the traditional meridian theory, clinical experience, and consensus by the experts in acupuncture and FD.

1c) Extent to which treatment was varied

  - No additional acupoints allowed.

2. Details of needling

2a) Number of needle insertions per subject per session (mean and range where relevant)

  - Fixed 12 acupoints.

2b) Names (or location if no standard name) of points used (uni/bilateral)

  - LI 4, ST36, LR3, PC3, SP4 and ST34 (bilateral)

2c) Depth of insertion, based on a specified unit of measurement, or on a particular tissue level

  - From 5 to 30 mm.

2d) Response sought (e.g. de qi or muscle twitch response)

  - ‘De qi’ sensation

2e) Needle stimulation (e.g. manual, electrical)

  - Manual acupuncture

2f) Needle retention time

  - Twenty minutes.

2g) Needle type (diameter, length, and manufacturer or material)

  - A sterilized stainless steel needle (0.25 × 40 mm, DONGBANG ACUPUNCTURE INC., Ungcheon, Boryeong, Korea).

3. Treatment regimen

3a) Number of treatment sessions

  - Eight sessions.

3b) Frequency and duration of treatment sessions

  - Twice weekly for 4 weeks, 20 min for each session.

4. Other components of treatment

4a) Details of other interventions administered to the acupuncture group (e.g. moxibustion, cupping, herbs, exercises, lifestyle advice)

  - Advice for lifestyle habit included and no other interventions during the study allowed.

4b) Setting and context of treatment, including instructions to practitioners, and information and explanations to patients

  - Participants will be informed that the acupuncture treatment is based on traditional Korean Medicine and previous studies on clinical trial.

5. Practitioner background

5) Description of participating acupuncturists (qualification or professional affiliation, years in acupuncture practice, other relevant experience)

  - Korean Medicine Doctors who have license and at least 2 years of experience of treating gastrointestinal diseases. They have studied acupuncture for more than 10 years and graduated university of Korean medicine. To ensure providing identical treatments, they finished 10 h of training and simulated the protocol.

6. Control or comparator interventions

6a) Rationale for the control or comparator in the context of the research question, with sources that justify this choice

  - No control intervention

6b) Precise description of the control or comparator. If sham acupuncture or any other type of acupuncture-like control is used, provide details as for Items 1 to 3 above.