Tutkimusta kivunhoidosta

Tutkimusta kivunhoidosta akupunktiolla

Akupunktio tunnetaan parhaiten kivunhoitoon liittyen. Kivunhoidon kannalta akupunktiosta löytyykin kaikkein laajinten erilaisia tutkimuksia. Osa tutkimuksista tarkastelee akupunktiota puhtaasti kivun lievittämisen kannalta, osa puolestaan kivun vähenemistä jonkun muun sairauden hoitamisen yhteydessä. Tutkimuksissa akupunktiolla on todettu olevan vaikutusta hyvin monenlaisiin kiputiloihin, kuten esimerkiksi:

kroonistuneisiin selkäkipuihin
niska- ja hartiakipuihin
päänsärkyyn
synnytyskipuihin
kuukautiskipuihin
erilaisiin neuropaattisiin kiputiloihin
syöpäkipuun
syöpähoitojen aiheuttamiin kipuihin
erilaisiin nivelkipuihin

Akupunktiota käytetään kivunhoidossa usein sen vuoksi, että sen avulla halutaan välttää voimakkaiden ja pitkäaikaisten kipulääkitysten mukanaan tuomia haittavaikutuksia tai esimerkiksi opioidien aiheuttamaa lääkeriippuvuutta. Akupunktiota voidaan kuitenkin käyttää monien erilaisten kivunhoidon menetelmien kanssa yhdessä, myös lääkkeiden.

Selaa tutkimuksia tai valitse aiheaulue

Kipu Migreeni Naisten terveys Miesten terveys Metabolia & sydänterveys Ruuansulatuselimistö Syövän tukihoito Psyykkinen terveys ja uni Neurologiset ongelmat Vaikutusmekanismit Muut

Different Acupuncture Therapies for Postherpetic Neuralgia: An Overview of Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis.

"...RESULTS: Totally, 7 SRs were included, including 128 studies and 9,792 patients. In AMSTAR 2, most of the SRs were of low or critically low levels since they had more than 1 critical deficiency. In ROBIS, 1 SR (14.29%) was rated as high risk, and the other 6 (85.71%) were rated as low risk. In the GRADE system, 9 outcomes (28.13%) were valued as high level, 5 (15.63%) as moderate level, 1 (3.13%) as low, and 17 (53.13%) as very low. In the effectiveness of acupuncture therapy, the group "moxibustion vs. original medical treatment" [mean difference (MD)=-1.44, 95% confidence interval (CI): -1.80 to -1.08, I=99%, P<0.00001] was of the highest heterogeneity and the group "bloodletting vs. original medical treatment" (MD=-2.80, 95% CI: -3.14 to -2.46, I=0, P<0.00001) was of the lowest heterogeneity. Six SRs have reported the safety of their studies and no serious events were shown in the treatment and control groups. ..."

Xia Y., Sun R. et al. (2024) Different Acupuncture Therapies for Postherpetic Neuralgia: An Overview of Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis. Chin J Integr Med. 2024. 🔗

Acupuncture Versus Oral Medications for Acute/Subacute Non-Specific Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

"PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Pharmacologic intervention do not always achieve benefits in the treatment of acute/subacute non-specific low back pain (NSLBP). We assessed efficacy and safety of acupuncture for acute/subacute NSLBP as alternative treatment. RECENT FINDINGS: We searched PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, Scopus, Epistemonikos, CNKI, Wan Fang Database, VIP database, ..."

Lin H., Wang X. et al. (2024) Acupuncture Versus Oral Medications for Acute/Subacute Non-Specific Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2024. 🔗

Acupuncture-Related Therapy for Knee Osteoarthritis: A Narrative Review of Neuroimaging Studies.

"Acupuncture has been widely applied for treating knee osteoarthritis (KOA). Numerous studies have found that acupuncture can effectively alleviate KOA symptoms. With the advancement of neuroimaging techniques, integrating neuroimaging with in-depth investigations of acupuncture mechanisms has emerged as a hot topic in traditional Chinese medical neuroscience research. This review aimed to analyze the study ..."

Qu Y., Peng Y. et al. (2024) Acupuncture-Related Therapy for Knee Osteoarthritis: A Narrative Review of Neuroimaging Studies. J Pain Res. 2024;17:773-773. 🔗

Acupuncture for radicular pain: a review of analgesic mechanism.

"Radicular pain, a common and complex form of neuropathic pain, presents significant challenges in treatment. Acupuncture, a therapy originating from ancient traditional Chinese medicine and widely utilized for various pain types, including radicular pain, has shown promising outcomes in the management of lumbar radicular pain, cervical radicular pain, and radicular pain due to spinal ..."

Li H., Zhang Y. et al. (2024) Acupuncture for radicular pain: a review of analgesic mechanism. Front Mol Neurosci. 2024;17:1332876-1332876. 🔗

Acupuncture in management of acute dental pain - A systematic review and meta-analysis.

"Acute dental pain is a common issue leading to dental consultation. Besides causal therapy, patients are treated with acupuncture, but efficacy in acute dental pain is still not clarified. We aimed to evaluate results of recent research to estimate the efficacy of acupuncture compared to pain-relieving approaches in treatment of acute dental pain. A ..."

Müller M., Schmucker C. et al. (2023) Acupuncture in management of acute dental pain - A systematic review and meta-analysis. Jpn Dent Sci Rev. 2023;59:114-114. 🔗

Effects of acupuncture therapy in diabetic neuropathic pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

"...RESULTS: An extensive review of 19 studies involving 1276 patients up to April 29, 2023, found that acupuncture was successful in improving pain intensity [MD= -1.09; 95% CI (-1.28, -0.89), P < 0.00001], clinical efficacy indicating pain changes [RR= 1.22; 95% CI (1.15, 1.29), P < 0.00001], and clinical neuropathy [MD= -1.55; 95% CI ( -3.00, -0.09), P = 0.04] in DNP patients. Quality of life was also improved, with few side effects reported. ..."

Li X., Liu Y. et al. (2023) Effects of acupuncture therapy in diabetic neuropathic pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Complement Ther Med. 2023;78:102992-102992. 🔗

Treatment of Frequent or Chronic Primary Headaches in Children and Adolescents: Focus on Acupuncture.

"...RESULTS: Despite the differences in tools, procedures, and application sites, acupuncture demonstrated a positive effect on both the frequency and intensity of headaches and was well tolerated. There are no studies considering the long-term efficacy of acupuncture. ..."

Bonemazzi I., Nosadini M. et al. (2023) Treatment of Frequent or Chronic Primary Headaches in Children and Adolescents: Focus on Acupuncture. Children (Basel). 2023;10(10). 🔗

Acupuncture as an alternative or in addition to conventional treatment for chronic non-specific low back pain: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

"...RESULTS: Ten RCTs (2122 participants) were included comparing acupuncture versus CT and 6 (374 participants) comparing acupuncture plus CT to CT alone. Comparing acupuncture with NPH or PH, no differences were found for pain and disability. Comparing with combined PH and NPH, pain and disability were reduced (SMD=-0.50, 95%CI-0.62 to -0.37; SMD=-0.71, 95%CI-1.17 to -0.24). Comparing acupuncture plus NPH with NPH alone, pain and disability were reduced (SMD=-0.70, 95%CI-0.94 to -0.46; SMD=-0.95, 95%CI-1.36 to -0.54). Comparing acupuncture plus PH with PH alone, pain and disability were reduced (MD=-0.21,8 95%CI-433.28 to -10.42; MD=-3.1, 95%CI-4.87 to -1.83). Comparing acupuncture plus combined treatment versus combined treatment alone, no differences were found in pain, while disability was reduced (MD=-3.40 95%CI-5.17 to -1.63). No studies assessed adverse event. Certainty of evidence ranged from moderate to very low. ..."

Giovanardi C., Gonzalez-Lorenzo M. et al. (2023) Acupuncture as an alternative or in addition to conventional treatment for chronic non-specific low back pain: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Integr Med Res. 2023;12(3):100972-100972. 🔗

Acupuncture for Low Back Pain: Reevaluation of Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses.

"PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This overview aims to reevaluate the methodological quality, report quality, and evidence quality of systematic reviews (SRs)/meta-analyses (MAs) of acupuncture for low back pain to determine whether acupuncture effectively treats low back pain (LBP). RECENT FINDINGS: Twenty-three SRs/MAs were deemed eligible for the present overview. The AMSTAR 2 score showed ..."

Yan W., Lin H. et al. (2023) Acupuncture for Low Back Pain: Reevaluation of Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses. Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2023. 🔗

Comparative effectiveness of moxibustion and acupuncture for the management of osteoarthritis knee: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

"...RESULTS: 21 studies were included, of which, half were identified as having high risk of bias. The pooled SMD for the pain score was found to be -0.53 (95% CI: -0.91 to -0.15). In-depth analysis focusing on the kind of moxibustion indicated that fire needle moxibustion was more effective in pain reduction (SMD = -0.56; 95% CI: -1.10 to -0.01) compared to alternative moxibustion methods (SMD = -0.47; 95% CI: -0.80 to -0.13). The pooled RR for the success rate in treatment was 1.39 (95% CI: 1.19 to 1.62). Subgroup analysis demonstrated that fire needle moxibustion reported a superior success rate (RR = 1.43; 95% CI: 1.19 to 1.72) in comparison to other types of moxibustion (RR = 1.33; 95% CI: 1.02 to 1.74). ..."

Xin S., Liu J. et al. (2023) Comparative effectiveness of moxibustion and acupuncture for the management of osteoarthritis knee: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Heliyon. 2023;9(7):e17805-e17805. 🔗

Acupuncture Treatment for Hip Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

"Acupuncture treatment (AT) is an effective treatment for pain relief; however, there are few systematic reviews that have reported on the effectiveness of AT for hip pain. This systematic review aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of AT of hip pain. We searched eight databases for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the effect ..."

Park H., Jeong H. et al. (2023) Acupuncture Treatment for Hip Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Healthcare (Basel). 2023;11(11). 🔗

Acupuncture for the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

"...RESULTS: Thirty studies involving 2295 patients were included in this review. Compared with carbamazepine, acupuncture led to improvements in pain scores (15 RCTs, mean difference (MD) - 1.40, 95% confidence interval (CI)-1.82 to -0.98 [95% prediction interval, -3.137,0.343], p < 0.00001, low certainty of evidence (CoE)), response rates (29 RCTs, risk ratio (RR) 1.20, 95% CI 1.15 to 1.25 [95% prediction interval, 1.067, 1.346], p < 0.00001, low CoE), frequency of pain attacks (2 RCTs, MD -2.53, 95% CI -4.11 to -0.96, P = 0.002, low CoE), and adverse effects (13 RCTs, risk difference (RD) -0.15, 95% CI -0.19 to -0.11 [95% prediction interval, -0.193, -0.108], P < 0.00001, very low CoE). ..."

Ang L., Kim H. et al. (2023) Acupuncture for the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Complement Ther Clin Pract. 2023;52:101763-101763. 🔗

Efficacy of acupuncture for tension-type headache prophylaxis: systematic review and meta-analysis with trial sequential analysis.

"...RESULTS: Fourteen studies involving 2795 participants were included. Acupuncture had more reduction than sham acupuncture in TTH frequency, both after treatment (standardized mean difference [SMD] - 0.80, 95% CI - 1.36 to - 0.24, P = 0.005) and at the follow-up period (SMD - 1.33, 95% CI - 2.18 to - 0.49, P = 0.002), while TSA showed the included sample size did not exceed required information size (RIS). Acupuncture was superior over no acupuncture after treatment (SMD - 0.52, 95% CI - 0.63 to - 0.41, P < 0.001), and cumulative sample size reached RIS. In terms of responder rate, acupuncture had a higher responder rate compared with sham acupuncture both after treatment (relative ratio [RR] 1.28, 95% CI 1.12 to 1.46, P = 0.0003) and the follow-up period (RR 1.37, 95% CI 1.19 to 1.58, P < 0.0001), but the sample size is inadequate. ..."

Tao Q., Wang X. et al. (2023) Efficacy of acupuncture for tension-type headache prophylaxis: systematic review and meta-analysis with trial sequential analysis. J Neurol. 2023. 🔗

Analgesic Efficacy of Acupuncture on Chronic Pelvic Pain: A Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis Study.

"Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) is the pain occurred in the pelvic region longer than six months. The monotherapy of medicine may not adequate for the pain management of CPP and multidisciplinary approaches have been more recommended. The aim of this study is to evaluate the pain management efficacy of acupuncture compared with a control ..."

Lin K., Chang Y. et al. (2023) Analgesic Efficacy of Acupuncture on Chronic Pelvic Pain: A Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis Study. Healthcare (Basel). 2023;11(6). 🔗

Recent trends in acupuncture for chronic pain: A bibliometric analysis and review of the literature.

"...RESULTS: A total of 1616 articles were retrieved. The results showed that the number of annual publications on acupuncture for chronic pain has increased over time, with the main types of literature being original articles (1091 articles, 67.5 %) and review articles (351 articles, 21.7 %). China had the most publications (598 articles, 37 %), with Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (93 articles, 5.8 %) and Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine ranked first (169 articles, 10.45 %) as the most prolific affiliate and journal, respectively. Liang FR was the most productive author (43 articles), and the article published by Vickers Andrew J in 2012 had the highest number of citations (625 citations). Recently, "acupuncture" and "pain" appeared most frequently. The hot topics in acupuncture for chronic pain based on keywords clustering analysis were experimental design, hot diseases, interventions, and mechanism studies. According to burst analysis, the main research frontiers were functional connectivity (FC), depression, and risk. ..."

Huang L., Xu G. et al. (2023) Recent trends in acupuncture for chronic pain: A bibliometric analysis and review of the literature. Complement Ther Med. 2023;72:102915-102915. 🔗

Effects and mechanisms of acupuncture analgesia mediated by afferent nerves in acupoint microenvironments.

"In the past few decades, the use of acupuncture analgesia in clinical practice has increased worldwide. This is due to its various benefits, including natural alleviation of pain without causing various adverse effects associated with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) and opioids. The acupoint represents the initial site of acupuncture stimulation, where diverse types of ..."

Fan Z., Dou B. et al. (2023) Effects and mechanisms of acupuncture analgesia mediated by afferent nerves in acupoint microenvironments. Front Neurosci. 2023;17:1239839-1239839. 🔗

Meta-analysis of the efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of low back fasciitis.

"...RESULTS: Finally, a total of 12 RCTs with a total sample size of 930 cases were included, of which 461 patients received simple acupuncture treatment (Group A) and 469 patients received non-simple acupuncture treatment (Group B). The results of the meta-analysis showed that: (1) Clinical total effective rate: The results of subgroup analysis showed that the clinical total effective rate of acupuncture was significantly higher than that of Western medicine [OR = 12.72, (2.26, 71.78), = 0.004]; the total effective rate of the traditional Chinese medicine therapy was significantly higher than that of acupuncture [OR = 0.35, 95% CI (0.19, 0.65), < 0.001]. (2) Score of the visual analog scale (VAS) after treatment: There was no significant difference in VAS score between Group A and Group B after treatment [MD = -0.22, 95% CI (-1.56, 1.12), = 0.75]. (3) Oswestry disability index after treatment: The results of subgroup analysis showed that the Oswestry disability index after treatment of acupuncture was significantly lower than that of Western medicine therapy [MD = -0.05, (-0.10, -0.00), = 0.04]; the Oswestry disability index of Chinese medicine therapy was significantly lower than that of acupuncture alone [WD = 0.10, 95% CI (0.05, 0.15), < 0.001]. ..."

Geng T., Lin D. et al. (2023) Meta-analysis of the efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of low back fasciitis. Am J Transl Res. 2023;15(8):5486-5486. 🔗

The Role of Acupuncture and Its Related Mechanism in Treating Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome.

"Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) is one of the most common diseases in urology, and its prevalence has been increasing, causing serious urogenital problems in men. Several targeted oral drug therapies exist to treat the pelvic pain experienced in this disease. However, these therapies may have potential adverse effects, and due ..."

Wang H., Zhang J. et al. (2023) The Role of Acupuncture and Its Related Mechanism in Treating Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome. Int J Gen Med. 2023;16:4039-4039. 🔗

Research Trends of Acupuncture Therapy on Myofascial Pain Syndrome from 2000 to 2022: A Bibliometric Analysis.

"...RESULTS: A total of 403 records were included in the final analysis. The total number of publications increased but with some fluctuations. The was the most cited journals. The most productive country and institution were USA, and China Medicine University, respectively. Liwei Chou was the most prolific author, and Simons DG ranked first in the cited author. In the ranking of frequency and centrality in cited references, the first article was published by Tough EA and Simons DG, respectively. The keyword of "acupuncture" ranked first in frequency, "double blind" ranked first in centrality. "Meta-analysis" was the keyword with the strongest citation burst. There were three hot topics in this field, including "the clinical feature of MPS", "measure of intervention" and "research method". The mechanism of acupuncture on MPS was one of the main research directions. ..."

Lu F., Ren P. et al. (2023) Research Trends of Acupuncture Therapy on Myofascial Pain Syndrome from 2000 to 2022: A Bibliometric Analysis. J Pain Res. 2023;16:1025-1025. 🔗

Role of nerve signal transduction and neuroimmune crosstalk in mediating the analgesic effects of acupuncture for neuropathic pain.

"Neurogenic pain rises because of nervous system damage or dysfunction and is the most difficult to treat among other pathological pains. Acupuncture has been reported as a great treatment option for neurogenic pain owing to its unlimited advantages. However, previous studies on the analgesic effects of acupuncture for NP were scattered and did not ..."

Chen Y., Li D. et al. (2023) Role of nerve signal transduction and neuroimmune crosstalk in mediating the analgesic effects of acupuncture for neuropathic pain. Front Neurol. 2023;14:1093849-1093849. 🔗

Are acupuncture and dry needling effective in the management of masticatory muscle pain: A network meta-analysis of randomised clinical trials.

"...RESULTS: Both NMA and direct pairwise meta-analysis have shown that there was no difference between active treatment with either acupuncture or dry-needling when compared to active and inactive placebo in patients with TMD-M with respect to pain intensity, and PPT (p > .05). However, there was a significant increase in MMO following dry-needling when compared to the placebo (very low-quality evidence). ..."

Al-Moraissi E., Goddard G. et al. (2022) Are acupuncture and dry needling effective in the management of masticatory muscle pain: A network meta-analysis of randomised clinical trials. J Oral Rehabil. 2022. 🔗

Warm needle acupuncture for osteoarthritis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

"...RESULTS: A total of 66 RCTs met the inclusion criteria for this review. Most of the included studies had an unclear risk of bias, and the certainty of the evidence was very low. Twenty-four RCTs compared the effects of WA with those of oral drug therapies. Meta-analysis showed superior effects of WA for the total effective rate (risk ratio (RR): 1.22, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.17 to 1.27, I = 26%, p < 0.001, 24 studies, n = 2278), pain, and function. Eight RCTs compared the effects of WA+drug therapy, and meta-analysis showed favorable effects for the total effective rate (RR: 1.27, 95% CI: 1.18 to 1.35, I =0%, p < 0.001, 8 studies, n = 646). Eight RCTs compared the effects of WA and intra-articular sodium hyaluronate (IASH) injection on OA and found equivalent effects of WA on the symptoms of OA. Twenty-eight RCTs compared the effects of WA+IASH injection with those of IASH injection, and meta-analysis showed superior effects of WA+IASH in terms of the total effective rate (RR: 1.15, 95% CI: 1.11 to 1.19, I =27.3%, p < 0.001, 25 studies, n = 2208), pain, and function. None of the RCTs reported serious adverse events. ..."

Jun J., Choi T. et al. (2022) Warm needle acupuncture for osteoarthritis: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Phytomedicine. 2022;106:154388. 🔗

Acupuncture and Postoperative Pain Reduction.

"PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Acupuncture is an analgesic technique that has long been utilized in Eastern medicine. In recent times, various acupuncture techniques have been used in integrated pain management approaches in Western medicine. It has even been adopted as an analgesic method in surgical patients. Currently, no review exists regarding various acupuncture techniques used ..."

Shah S., Godhardt L. et al. (2022) Acupuncture and Postoperative Pain Reduction. Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2022. 🔗

Effectiveness of Acupuncture for Nonspecific Chronic Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

"...Results: This systematic review included 5 studies of which 4 were included in the meta-analysis. Acupuncture as an adjunct to standard therapy had clinically meaningful reduction in self-reported pain at post-treatment (mean difference = -1.04 [95% confidence interval (CI), -1.59 to -0.49], < 0.001, = 46.1%) and at intermediate term (mean difference = -0.82 [95% CI, -1.13 to -0.50], < 0.001, = 0%), compared with standard care. Levels of disability showed similar clinically meaningful reduction at post-treatment and intermediate term. ..."

Asano H., Plonka D. et al. (2022) Effectiveness of Acupuncture for Nonspecific Chronic Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Med Acupunct. 2022;34(2):96-106. 🔗

The Effect of Acupuncture on Hand and Wrist Pain Intensity, Functional Status, and Quality of Life in Adults: A Systematic Review.

"This systematic review examined the effects of acupuncture on hand-and-wrist pain intensity, functional status, quality of life, and incidence of adverse effects in adults. Searches of 6 databases and previous reviews for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were performed. Each outcome was analyzed for participant conditions, interventions, controls, and follow-up times determined . Active controls were excluded. ..."

Trinh K., Zhou F. et al. (2022) The Effect of Acupuncture on Hand and Wrist Pain Intensity, Functional Status, and Quality of Life in Adults: A Systematic Review. Med Acupunct. 2022;34(1):34-48. 🔗

Acupuncture for cancer pain: an evidence-based clinical practice guideline.

"...RESULTS: The guideline proposed three recommendations: (1) a strong recommendation for the treatment of acupuncture rather than no treatment to relieve pain in patients with moderate to severe cancer pain; (2) a weak recommendation for the combination treatments with acupuncture/acupressure to reduce pain intensity, decrease the opioid dose, and alleviate opioid-related side effects in moderate to severe cancer pain patients who are using analgesics; and (3) a strong recommendation for acupuncture in breast cancer patients to relieve their aromatase inhibitor-induced arthralgia. ..."

Ge L., Wang Q. et al. (2022) Acupuncture for cancer pain: an evidence-based clinical practice guideline. Chin Med. 2022;17(1):8. 🔗

Research Trends of Acupuncture Therapy on Fibromyalgia from 2000 to 2021: A Bibliometric Analysis.

"...RESULTS: 868 publications were included in this study. The publications have increased steadily over time, and the type published the most is Article. Pain is the most cited journal. The most prolific country is the USA while the most prolific institution is Univ Michigan. The most prolific and influential authors were Yiwen Lin and Wolfe F respectively. The analysis of keywords and literature showed that long-term efficacy, animal studies, alternative medicine, and electroacupuncture will be the scientific hotspots in acupuncture for fibromyalgia. ..."

Yu G., Chen L. et al. (2022) Research Trends of Acupuncture Therapy on Fibromyalgia from 2000 to 2021: A Bibliometric Analysis. J Pain Res. 2022;15:3941-3941. 🔗

Multidimensional Pain Modulation by Acupuncture Analgesia: The Reward Effect of Acupuncture on Pain Relief

"Pain is an intrinsically unpleasant experience with features that protect an organism by promoting motivation and learning. Pain relief, a negative reinforcement of pain, is considered a reward and activates the brain's reward system. The reward circuit in the brain involves reward and pain. Acupuncture has a multidimensional and comprehensive regulating effect on chronic ..."

Pan S., Wang S. et al. (2022) Multidimensional Pain Modulation by Acupuncture Analgesia: The Reward Effect of Acupuncture on Pain Relief Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2022. 🔗

Potential mechanisms of acupuncture for neuropathic pain based on somatosensory system.

"Neuropathic pain, caused by a lesion or disease of the somatosensory system, is common and distressing. In view of the high human and economic burden, more effective treatment strategies were urgently needed. Acupuncture has been increasingly used as an adjuvant or complementary therapy for neuropathic pain. Although the therapeutic effects of acupuncture have been ..."

Ma X., Chen W. et al. (2022) Potential mechanisms of acupuncture for neuropathic pain based on somatosensory system. Front Neurosci. 2022;16:940343. 🔗

Effects of Acupuncture on Neuropathic Pain Induced by Spinal Cord Injury: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

"...Results: Six randomized controlled trials (145 participants in the experimental groups and 141 participants in the control groups) were identified that evaluated the application of acupuncture for neuropathic pain after SCI and were included in this study. The results of our study revealed that acupuncture had a positive effect on the pain severity (standardized mean difference (SMD): -1.40, 95% confidence interval (CI): -2.23; -0.57), the present pain intensity (MD = -0.61, 95% CIs = -0.98; -0.23), and the pain region index (MD = -3.04, 95% CI = -3.98; -2.11). In addition, sensitivity analyses showed that these results were robust and stable. Subgroup analyses indicated that electroacupuncture (EA) had better effects on SCI-induced neuropathic pain. However, a publication bias was observed. ..."

He K., Hu R. et al. (2022) Effects of Acupuncture on Neuropathic Pain Induced by Spinal Cord Injury: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2022:6297484. 🔗

Acupuncture and Moxibustion for Peripheral Neuropathic Pain: A Frequentist Network Meta-Analysis and Cost-Effectiveness Evaluation.

"...Results: One three-arm trial and 15 two-arm trials comprising 1308 participants that satisfy the eligibility criteria were identified. Among the included studies, 12.5% were at low risk of bias, 68.75% had some concerns about the risk of bias, and 18.75% were at high risk of bias. The major sources of bias originated from the randomization processes of the studies. The patients were assigned to seven different acupuncture or moxibustion interventions and two pharmaceutical treatments. Except for acupoint injection, all the included acupuncture and moxibustion techniques showed superior improvements in PNP and were more cost-effective as compared to pharmaceutical treatments. Warm needling, fire needling, and moxibustion were the most effective treatments. Fire needling showed the lowest ICPR relative to the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the cost-effectiveness analysis of direct and indirect costs. ..."

Zhao W., Huang H. et al. (2022) Acupuncture and Moxibustion for Peripheral Neuropathic Pain: A Frequentist Network Meta-Analysis and Cost-Effectiveness Evaluation. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2022:6886465. 🔗

Acupuncture Methods for Primary Trigeminal Neuralgia: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

"...Results: A total of 58 RCTs with 4,126 participants were obtained. The meta-analysis indicated that five acupuncture methods were superior to conventional medicine (carbamazepine) in pain reduction intensity and response rate. Meanwhile, electronic acupuncture plus manual acupuncture was the most effective therapy since it reduced pain intensity in 11 methods and improved the response rate in 10 interventions. Moreover, six interventions had acceptable adverse events, and none of the included studies reported severe adverse events. However, most pieces of evidence were ranked as critically low. ..."

Yin Z., Wang F. et al. (2022) Acupuncture Methods for Primary Trigeminal Neuralgia: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2022:3178154. 🔗

Effect of Acupuncture on Pain, Fatigue, Sleep, Physical Function, Stiffness, Well-Being, and Safety in Fibromyalgia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

"...Results: A total of 13 articles were searched, of which 12 were analyzed quantitatively. Our meta-analysis found that acupuncture could alleviate pain (SMD: -0.42, 95% CI, -0.66, -0.17, <0.001, I=58%) and improve well-being (SMD: -0.86, 95% CI, -1.49, 0.24, P=0.007, I=85%) at post-treatment. In addition, acupuncture showed long-term effects on reducing pain (=0.03) and improving well-being (<0.001). No evidence that acupuncture works on fatigue, sleep quality, physical function, or stiffness was found. No serious adverse events were detected in acupuncture treatment. ..."

Zheng C. & Zhou T. (2022) Effect of Acupuncture on Pain, Fatigue, Sleep, Physical Function, Stiffness, Well-Being, and Safety in Fibromyalgia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. J Pain Res. 2022;15:315-329. 🔗

Effect of Manual Acupuncture for Mild-to-Moderate Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: A Systematic Review.

"...Results: We included seven RCTs, of which three studies reported both post-treatment improvement effects and statistical significance using p-values for all outcomes. Five studies reported statistically significant intergroup differences (p-values for all outcomes) in post-treatment improvement. None of the studies reported severe adverse effects of MA. In all of the RCTs, the reporting rates of the 2c, 2a, and 6a items of STRICTA 2010 were 14%, 29%, and 29%, respectively. PC7 () was used to treat CTS in all of the included studies. ..."

Huh J., Jeong H. et al. (2021) Effect of Manual Acupuncture for Mild-to-Moderate Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: A Systematic Review. J Pharmacopuncture. 2021;24(4):153-164. 🔗

The Efficacy of Acupuncture on Foot and Ankle for Pain Intensity, Functional Status, and General Quality of Life in Adults: A Systematic Review.

"To assess the effect of acupuncture on foot and ankle pain intensity, functional status, quality of life, and incidence of adverse events in adults. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were obtained from a systematic search of 6 major English databases, and a manual search of relevant systematic reviews using Google Scholar. RCTs that compared acupuncture with ..."

Trinh K., Belski N. et al. (2021) The Efficacy of Acupuncture on Foot and Ankle for Pain Intensity, Functional Status, and General Quality of Life in Adults: A Systematic Review. Med Acupunct. 2021;33(6):386-395. 🔗

Efficacy of Dry Needling and Acupuncture in the Treatment of Neck Pain.

"...Results: Neck pain not only affects quality of life directly, but also contributes to depression, job dissatisfaction and reduced productivity. Unfortunately, neck pain is strongly linked to office and computer work and is likely to continue increasing in prevalence. Traditional treatments, such as analgesics, physical therapy, exercise, and non-invasive therapy bring some relief, and invasive therapy is indicated if anatomical pathologies exist. Acupuncture is a form of integrative medicine, originally described and practiced in traditional Chinese medicine and now expanded to include methods including acupressure, dry needling, and others. Traditionally, it focused on restoring the patient's flow of Qi by puncturing specific points along the meridians. It has previously been shown to be effective in other forms of chronic pain and disability. Clinical trials studying acupuncture for neck pain have shown significant reduction in both pain and associated symptoms. These therapies are reviewed in this text. ..."

Berger A., Liu Y. et al. (2021) Efficacy of Dry Needling and Acupuncture in the Treatment of Neck Pain. Anesth Pain Med. 2021;11(2):e113627. 🔗

Acupuncture and Derived Therapies for Pain in Palliative Cancer Management: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Based on Single-Arm and Controlled Trials.

"Acupuncture is a classical complementary therapy, but benefits in palliative cancer pain are still unclear due to lack of consistent evidence. To comprehensively evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture and derived therapies (such as electroacupuncture, laser acupuncture, and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) for analgesia in palliative cancer care based on both single-arm and controlled trials. ..."

Dai L., Liu Y. et al. (2021) Acupuncture and Derived Therapies for Pain in Palliative Cancer Management: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Based on Single-Arm and Controlled Trials. J Palliat Med. 2021. 🔗

Acupuncture for palliative cancer pain management: systematic review.

"...RESULTS: Five studies (n=189) were included in this systematic review. Results indicated a favourable effect of acupuncture on pain relief in palliative care for patients with cancer. According to OCEBM 2011 Levels of Evidence, they were level 2 in one case (20%), level 3 in two cases (40%) and level 4 in the remaining (40%). Low-level evidence adversely affects the reliability of findings. ..."

Yang J., Wahner-Roedler D. et al. (2021) Acupuncture for palliative cancer pain management: systematic review. BMJ Support Palliat Care. 2021. 🔗

Progress on the Experimental Research of Sciatic Nerve Injury with Acupuncture.

"...Results: A total of 89 studies were included in this analysis. Among them, the most commonly used animal models of SNI were produced by the clamp or transverse injury in the rats; the most frequently used intervention was electroacupuncture with dilatational wave of 2/100 Hz; the frequency of acupuncture was mainly performed once per day lasting for more than 2 weeks; the mainly selected acupoints were Huantiao (GB30), Zusanli (ST36), and Yanglingquan (GB34); and the approaches of assessment were contained with behavioral, functional, morphological, histological, cellular, and molecular measurements. ..."

Wang H., Cui J. et al. (2021) Progress on the Experimental Research of Sciatic Nerve Injury with Acupuncture. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2021:1401756. 🔗

Effects of Warm Needle Acupuncture on Temporomandibular Joint Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

"...Results: The meta-analysis included 10 studies with a total of 670 patients, which included 340 patients in the experimental group and 330 patients in the control group. The data in this review showed that WNA is superior to treatments such as acupuncture alone, acupuncture therapy combined with TDP, drug therapy, and ultrasonic therapy in terms of effective rate (RR = 1.20; 95% CI, 1.06 to 1.35; and = 0.003) and cure rate (RR = 1.82; 95% CI, 1.46 to 2.28; and < 0.00001) for the treatment of TMD. ..."

Liu G., Gao Z. et al. (2021) Effects of Warm Needle Acupuncture on Temporomandibular Joint Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2021:6868625. 🔗

Comparison of the Effectiveness of Three Different Acupuncture Methods for TMD-Related Pain: A Randomized Clinical Study

"Purpose This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of three acupuncture methods for temporomandibular disorders- (TMDs-) related pain. Materials and Methods Different locations of pain, according to DC/TMD clinical assessment, were considered: temporomandibular joint (TMJ), masticatory muscles, head, and neck. Sixty patients were assigned randomly to one of three treatment groups (20 patients in ..."

Serritella E., Galluccio G. et al. (2021) Comparison of the Effectiveness of Three Different Acupuncture Methods for TMD-Related Pain: A Randomized Clinical Study Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2021. 🔗

Efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of fibromyalgia.

"Purpose of Review: Fibromyalgia is a highly prevalent chronic pain syndrome that affects up to 4% of the population and causes significant morbidity and disability, with an increasing associated cost. Though many approaches for treatment have been tested, therapy regimens are still elusive, and efficacy is limited. This review summarizes the background of fibromyalgia and ..."

Berger A., Liu Y. et al. (2021) Efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of fibromyalgia. Orthop Rev (Pavia). 2021;13(2):25085. 🔗

Acupuncture for the Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis: An Overview of Systematic Reviews.

"...Results: A total of 14 SRs and MAs were included. The evaluation results of the AMSTAR 2 tool showed that the methodological quality of all the 14 SRs and MAs was critically low. The principal causes are the lack of a pre-registration proposal and a list of excluded studies and justify the exclusions, the report on the sources of funding, and the reasons for the study designs for inclusion. The results of the GRADE evaluation showed 25 of 46 outcomes were very low-level evidence. Seventeen were of low level, four were of moderate level and none were of high level. Most outcomes were downgraded in quality of evidence mainly because of publication bias and imprecision. ..."

Chen J., Liu A. et al. (2021) Acupuncture for the Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis: An Overview of Systematic Reviews. Int J Gen Med. 2021;14:8481-8494. 🔗

Optimal Acupuncture Methods for Nonspecific Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review and Bayesian Network Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

"...Results: A total of 30 trials with 3196 participants were analyzed; 16.67% of which showed a high risk of bias. The results indicated that fire acupuncture plus manual acupuncture, auricular needling, and electroacupuncture plus warm acupuncture were most effective in reducing VAS score. The most effective interventions for reducing ODI score were manual acupuncture plus conventional medicines, followed by moxibustion and manual acupuncture plus moxibustion. Manual acupuncture plus moxibustion was dominant in the cluster ranking. Acupuncture showed a lower incidence of adverse events (7.70%) than other interventions (conventional medicines, routine care, and placebo; 12.24%). ..."

Wang L., Yin Z. et al. (2021) Optimal Acupuncture Methods for Nonspecific Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review and Bayesian Network Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. J Pain Res. 2021;14:1097-1112. 🔗

Evaluating the Quality of Reports About Randomized Controlled Trials of Acupuncture for Low Back Pain.

"...Results: A total of 31 RCTs were extracted in the final analysis. Based on the CONSORT statement, the items "title and abstract", "background and objectives", "intervention", "outcomes", "statistical methods", "baseline data", "outcomes and estimation" and "interpretation" have a positive rate of greater than 80%. The items "implementation", "generalizability" and "protocol" have a positive rate of less than 30%. Based on the STRICTA statement, the items "style of acupuncture", "needle retention time", "number of treatment sessions", "frequency and duration of treatment" and "precise description of the control or comparator" have a positive rate of greater than 80%. The item "extent to which the treatment was varied" has a positive rate of less than 30%. The agreements among most items are determined to be moderate or good. ..."

Liu X., Xu Z. et al. (2021) Evaluating the Quality of Reports About Randomized Controlled Trials of Acupuncture for Low Back Pain. J Pain Res. 2021;14:1141-1151. 🔗

Neuroimaging in the Understanding of Acupuncture Analgesia: A Review of Acupuncture Neuroimaging Study Based on Experimental Pain Models.

"With the development of real-time and visualized neuroimaging techniques, the studies on the central mechanism of acupuncture analgesia gain increasing attention. The experimental pain models have been widely used in acupuncture-analgesia neuroimaging studies with quantitative and controlled advantages. This review aimed to analyze the study design and main findings of acupuncture neuroimaging studies to ..."

Peihong M., Yuzhu Q. et al. (2021) Neuroimaging in the Understanding of Acupuncture Analgesia: A Review of Acupuncture Neuroimaging Study Based on Experimental Pain Models. Front Neurosci. 2021;15:648305. 🔗

Research Trends from 2010 to 2020 for Pain Treatment with Acupuncture: A Bibliometric Analysis.

"...Results: The search finally included 4227 related studies. Results show that the number of annual publications has been increasing gradually. (366) was the most productive journal, while (2270/0.04) ranked first in terms of frequency and centrality of cited journals, respectively. Among countries/institutions, the China (1252) and the Kyung Hee University (228) ranked first. Lee MS (51 articles) was the most effective author while MacPherson H (577) was the most cited author. The most frequently cited reference was a systematic review of individual patient data on acupuncture for chronic pain (322). "Burden" was identified as a frontier research item for 2017-2020. ..."

Gao Z., Zhang J. et al. (2021) Research Trends from 2010 to 2020 for Pain Treatment with Acupuncture: A Bibliometric Analysis. J Pain Res. 2021;14:941-952. 🔗

Acupuncture for Paclitaxel-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy: A Review of Clinical and Basic Studies.

"Paclitaxel-induced peripheral neuropathy (PIPN) is a common and intractable side effect of the conventional chemotherapeutic agent paclitaxel. Acupuncture has been reported as an effective alternative therapy in treatment of PIPN in both basic studies and clinical trials. However, there is a lack of comprehensive surveys to summarize the action of acupuncture in management of ..."

Zhao Y., Yu X. et al. (2021) Acupuncture for Paclitaxel-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy: A Review of Clinical and Basic Studies. J Pain Res. 2021;14:993-1005. 🔗

Clinical Efficacy and Safety of Acupressure on Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

"...Results: Twenty-three RCTs representing 2400 participants were included. Acupressure was superior to tuina massage on response rate (RR 1.25; 95% CI, 1.16 to 1.35; < 0.00001) and in the standardized mean difference (SMD) for pain reduction [SMD -1.92; 95% CI, -3.09 to -0.76; =0.001]. Likewise, acupressure was superior to physical therapy [SMD, -0.88; 95% CI, -1.10 to -0.65; < 0.00001] and to usual care [SMD, -0.32; 95% CI, -0.61 to -0.02; =0.04] in pain reduction. The Oswestry Disability Index was significantly improved by acupressure compared with usual care [SMD, -0.55; 95% CI, -0.84 to -0.25; =0.0003]. The combination of acupressure with either manual acupuncture or electro-acupuncture showed significant improvements over the adjuvant therapies alone in response rate [RR 1.19; 95% CI, 1.13 to 1.26; < 0.00001], pain reduction, and the Japanese Orthopedic Association score (JOA). However, each study displayed substantial heterogeneity. Through subgroup sensitivity analysis and -HETRED analysis, the heterogeneity of acupressure compared with manual acupuncture decreased while the results maintained significance with respect to pain reduction [SMD -0.9; 95% CI, -1.21 to -0.6; < 0.00001] and JOA [SMD, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.33 to 0.98; < 0.00001]. Similar results were obtained comparing acupressure with electro-acupuncture with respect to pain [SMD, -1.07; 95% CI, -1.33 to -0.81; < 0.00001] and JOA [SMD, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.51 to 1.27, < 0.00001]. TSA demonstrated the effectiveness of acupressure as a standalone or as a combinative treatment (with manual acupuncture or electro-acupuncture) for LBP. ..."

Li T., Li X. et al. (2021) Clinical Efficacy and Safety of Acupressure on Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2021:8862399. 🔗

Acupuncture for Arthralgia Induced by Aromatase Inhibitors in Patients with Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

"...RESULTS: Seven trials involving 603 patients were reviewed. The primary outcome, the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) score, significantly differed between the acupuncture and control groups [pain-related interference: MD = -1.89, 95% confidence interval (CI) [-2.99, -0.79], = 3.36 ( = .008 < .05), pain severity: MD = -1.57, 95% CI [-2.46, -0.68], = 3.45 ( = .0006 < .05), worst pain: MD = -2.31, 95% CI [-3.15, -1.48], = 5.47 ( < .0001 < .05)]. No severe adverse events were reported in any study. ..."

Liu X., Lu J. et al. (2021) Acupuncture for Arthralgia Induced by Aromatase Inhibitors in Patients with Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Integr Cancer Ther. 2021;20:1534735420980811. 🔗

Acupuncture for Chronic Pain-Related Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

"...Results: Eight studies involving 636 participants were identified and included in the meta-analysis. The results showed that single acupuncture treatment and drug treatment have the same effect in improving the HAMD score (MD = -0.14, 95% CI = [-0.88, 0.59], = 0.71) and alleviating the VAS score (MD = -0.42, 95% CI = [-1.10, -0.27], = 0.23), but acupuncture treatment is safer (OR = 0.03, 95% CI = [0.01, 0.21], = 0.0003). In addition, acupuncture combined with drugs (control group) is more beneficial than single-drug treatment in improving the HAMD score (MD = -2.95, 95% CI = [-3.55, -2.36], < 0.00001) and alleviating the VAS score (MD = -1.06, 95% CI = [-1.65, -0.47], = 0.0004). ..."

You J., Li H. et al. (2021) Acupuncture for Chronic Pain-Related Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Pain Res Manag. 2021:6617075. 🔗

Effects of manual acupuncture and electroacupuncture for lateral epicondylalgia of musculoskeletal origin: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

"...RESULTS: A total of 14 trials (10 acupuncture) were included. The meta-analysis found a moderate effect size of acupuncture (SMD = -0.66, 95% confidence interval (CI) = -1.22 to -0.10), but not electroacupuncture (SMD = -0.08, 95% CI = -0.99 to 0.83), in the reduction of elbow pain as compared to a comparative group. Acupuncture exhibited a significant moderate effect size (SMD = -0.51, 95% CI = -0.91 to -0.11) in the improvement of related-disability. Acupuncture (SMD = 0.36, 95% CI = 0.16 to 0.57), but not electroacupuncture (SMD = 0.34, 95% CI = -0.29 to 0.98), exhibited a significant but small effect size on strength. Most significant effects were in the short term. The RoB was low but the heterogeneity of trial results led to a downgrading of the GRADE evidence level. ..."

Navarro-Santana M., Sanchez-Infante J. et al. (2020) Effects of manual acupuncture and electroacupuncture for lateral epicondylalgia of musculoskeletal origin: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Acupunct Med. 2020:964528420967364. 🔗

Acupuncture for chronic nonspecific low back pain.

"...RESULTS: We included 33 studies (37 articles) with 8270 participants. The majority of studies were carried out in Europe, Asia, North and South America. Seven studies (5572 participants) conducted in Germany accounted for 67% of the participants. Sixteen trials compared acupuncture with sham intervention, usual care, or no treatment. Most studies had high risk of performance bias due to lack of blinding of the acupuncturist. A few studies were found to have high risk of detection, attrition, reporting or selection bias. We found low-certainty evidence (seven trials, 1403 participants) that acupuncture may relieve pain in the immediate term (up to seven days) compared to sham intervention (mean difference (MD) -9.22, 95% confidence interval (CI) -13.82 to -4.61, visual analogue scale (VAS) 0-100). The difference did not meet the clinically important threshold of 15 points or 30% relative change. Very low-certainty evidence from five trials (1481 participants) showed that acupuncture was not more effective than sham in improving back-specific function in the immediate term (standardized mean difference (SMD) -0.16, 95% CI -0.38 to 0.06; corresponding to the Hannover Function Ability Questionnaire (HFAQ, 0 to 100, higher values better) change (MD 3.33 points; 95% CI -1.25 to 7.90)). Three trials (1068 participants) yielded low-certainty evidence that acupuncture seemed not to be more effective clinically in the short term for quality of life (SMD 0.24, 95% CI 0.03 to 0.45; corresponding to the physical 12-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12, 0-100, higher values better) change (MD 2.33 points; 95% CI 0.29 to 4.37)). The reasons for downgrading the certainty of the evidence to either low to very low were risk of bias, inconsistency, and imprecision. We found moderate-certainty evidence that acupuncture produced greater and clinically important pain relief (MD -20.32, 95% CI -24.50 to -16.14; four trials, 366 participants; (VAS, 0 to 100), and improved back function (SMD -0.53, 95% CI -0.73 to -0.34; five trials, 2960 participants; corresponding to the HFAQ change (MD 11.50 points; 95% CI 7.38 to 15.84)) in the immediate term compared to no treatment. The evidence was downgraded to moderate certainty due to risk of bias. No studies reported on quality of life in the short term or adverse events. Low-certainty evidence (five trials, 1054 participants) suggested that acupuncture may reduce pain (MD -10.26, 95% CI -17.11 to -3.40; not clinically important on 0 to 100 VAS), and improve back-specific function immediately after treatment (SMD: -0.47; 95% CI: -0.77 to -0.17; five trials, 1381 participants; corresponding to the HFAQ change (MD 9.78 points, 95% CI 3.54 to 16.02)) compared to usual care. Moderate-certainty evidence from one trial (731 participants) found that acupuncture was more effective in improving physical quality of life (MD 4.20, 95% CI 2.82 to 5.58) but not mental quality of life in the short term (MD 1.90, 95% CI 0.25 to 3.55). The certainty of evidence was downgraded to moderate to low because of risk of bias, inconsistency, and imprecision. Low-certainty evidence suggested a similar incidence of adverse events immediately after treatment in the acupuncture and sham intervention groups (four trials, 465 participants) (RR 0.68 95% CI 0.46 to 1.01), and the acupuncture and usual care groups (one trial, 74 participants) (RR 3.34, 95% CI 0.36 to 30.68). The certainty of the evidence was downgraded due to risk of bias and imprecision. No trial reported adverse events for acupuncture when compared to no treatment. The most commonly reported adverse events in the acupuncture groups were insertion point pain, bruising, hematoma, bleeding, worsening of LBP, and pain other than LBP (pain in leg and shoulder). AUTHORS' ..."

Mu J., Furlan A. et al. (2020) Acupuncture for chronic nonspecific low back pain. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2020;12:CD013814. 🔗

Can Acupuncture Improve Chronic Spinal Pain? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

"...RESULTS: Data was extracted from 22 RCTs including 2588 patients. Pooled analysis revealed that acupuncture can reduce chronic spinal pain compared to sham acupuncture (weighted mean difference [WMD] -12.05, 95% confidence interval [CI] -15.86 to -8.24), mediation control (WMD -18.27, 95% CI -28.18 to -8.37), usual care control (WMD -9.57, 95% CI -13.48 to -9.44), and no treatment control (WMD -17.10, 95% CI -24.83 to -9.37). In terms of functional disability, acupuncture can improve physical function at immediate-term follow-up (standardized mean difference [SMD] -1.74, 95% CI -2.04 to -1.44), short-term follow-up (SMD -0.89, 95% CI -1.15 to -0.62), and long-term follow-up (SMD -1.25, 95% CI -1.48 to -1.03). ..."

Huang J., Zheng X. et al. (2020) Can Acupuncture Improve Chronic Spinal Pain? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Global Spine J. 2020:2192568220962440. 🔗

Dry cupping for musculoskeletal pain and range of motion: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

"...RESULTS: A total of 21 RCTs with 1049 participants were included. Overall, the quality of evidence was fair, with a mean D&B score of 18/28. Low-quality evidence revealed dry cupping had a significant effect on pain reduction for chronic neck pain (MD, -21.67; 95% CI, -36.55, to -6.80) and low back pain (MD, -19.38; 95%CI, -28.09, to -10.66). Moderate-quality evidence suggested that dry cupping improved functional status for chronic neck pain (MD, -4.65; 95%CI, -6.44, to -2.85). For range of motion, low quality evidence revealed a significant difference when compared to no treatment (SMD, -0.75; 95%CI, -0.75, to -0.32). ..."

Wood S., Fryer G. et al. (2020) Dry cupping for musculoskeletal pain and range of motion: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Bodyw Mov Ther. 2020;24(4):503-518. 🔗

The response-time relationship and covariate effects of acupuncture for chronic pain: A systematic review and model-based longitudinal meta-analysis.

"...RESULTS: Seventy-seven randomized clinical trials involved chronic shoulder, neck, knee and low back pain were included. The response-time analysis suggested that the treatment duration of acupuncture will be 5 weeks or more to achieve 80% of maximum analgesic effect. Moreover a lower baseline pain intensity and the location of low back pain resulted in a lower pain relief of acupuncture intervention. The absolute maximum analgesic effects of sham acupuncture and conventional therapy were 22.6 and 15.8 points at a 0-100 NRS scale. The absolute effect of true acupuncture was 26.1 points for low back pain (relative effect of 3.5 and 9.4 points to sham and conventional therapy), 34.9 points for other pain body locations (relative effect of 12.3 and 19.1 points to sham and conventional therapy), in patients with a baseline pain intensity of 60 points. ..."

Li C., Pei Q. et al. (2020) The response-time relationship and covariate effects of acupuncture for chronic pain: A systematic review and model-based longitudinal meta-analysis. Eur J Pain. 2020;24(9):1653-1665. 🔗

Systematic review and meta-analysis of effects of acupuncture on pain and function in non-specific low back pain.

"...RESULTS: 25 trials (n=7587 participants) were identified and included in a meta-analysis. The results showed that acupuncture was more effective at inducing pain relief than: no treatment (standardised mean difference (SMD) -0.69, 95% CI -0.99 to -0.38); sham acupuncture in the immediate term (SMD -0.33, 95% CI -0.49 to -0.18), short term (SMD -0.47, 95% CI -0.77 to -0.17), and intermediate term (SMD -0.17, 95% CI -0.28 to -0.05); and usual care in the short term (SMD -1.07, 95% CI -1.81 to -0.33) and intermediate term (SMD -0.43, 95% CI -0.77 to -0.10). Also, adjunctive acupuncture with usual care was more effective than usual care alone at all time points studied. With regard to functional improvement, the analysis showed a significant difference between acupuncture and no treatment (SMD -0.94, 95% CI -1.57 to -0.30), whereas the other control therapies could not be assessed. ..."

Li Y., Yuan S. et al. (2020) Systematic review and meta-analysis of effects of acupuncture on pain and function in non-specific low back pain. Acupunct Med. 2020;38(4):235-243. 🔗

Bee Venom Acupuncture for Shoulder Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

"...Results: Seven studies were included in the review, and four studies were included in the meta-analysis. Comparing BVA plus conventional therapy (CT) with saline injection plus CT, it showed an effect in favor of BVA plus CT in visual analog scale (VAS) and pain rating scale (PRS) (p = 0.02, p = 0.009, respectively). Comparing BVA plus physiotherapy (PT) with saline injection plus PT, it showed that there was no significant difference in VAS and verbal rating scale (VRS) between the two groups. ..."

Shen L., Lee J. et al. (2020) Bee Venom Acupuncture for Shoulder Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. J Pharmacopuncture. 2020;23(2):44-53. 🔗

The effects of acupuncture on occipital neuralgia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

"...RESULTS: We included a total of 11 RCTs. All VAS scores (mean difference [MD] -2.35, 95% confidence interval [CI] -2.84, - 1.86) and effective rate values (odds ratio [OR] 4.96, 95% CI 2.24, 10.96) showed significant differences in effect between acupuncture treatment alone and the control group treatment. Similarly, combined acupuncture treatment with control group treatment also showed significant effects in effective rate (OR 6.68, 95% CI 1.11, 40.37). We performed a subgroup analysis on studies that used acupuncture only as the intervention and reported the effective rate, and found that all acupuncture subgroups showed significant effects compared to the control group treatments. None of the studies reported severe adverse effects. ..."

Yun J., Lee S. et al. (2020) The effects of acupuncture on occipital neuralgia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Complement Med Ther. 2020;20(1):171. 🔗

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the efficacy of acupuncture and electroacupuncture against chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy.

"...RESULTS: Of the 13 studies included in the literature review, 12 RCTs compared acupuncture and pharmacological treatments. There were 3 EA RCTs, but only 1 RCT compared EA and sham-EA. A total of 832 participants were included in these studies. Five RCTs showed that acupuncture was more effective than pharmacological treatment in terms of efficacy rate. Regarding the risk of bias summary, the quality of included studies was poor. Only 1 study compared the efficacy of EA and sham EA; therefore, the specific efficacy of acupuncture could not be elucidated. ..."

Hwang M., Lee H. et al. (2020) A systematic review and meta-analysis of the efficacy of acupuncture and electroacupuncture against chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. Medicine (Baltimore). 2020;99(17):e19837. 🔗

The effectiveness of acupuncture in the management of persistent regional myofascial head and neck pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

"Persistent head and neck myofascial pain is among the most frequently reported pain complaints featuring major variability in treatment approaches and perception of improvement. Acupuncture is one of the least invasive complimentary modalities that can optimize conventional treatment. The aim of this review was to determine the evidence for the effectiveness of acupuncture in ..."

Farag A., Malacarne A. et al. (2020) The effectiveness of acupuncture in the management of persistent regional myofascial head and neck pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Complement Ther Med. 2020;49:102297. 🔗

Traditional Chinese medicine foot bath combined with acupoint massage for the treatment of diabetic peripheral neuropathy: A systematic review and meta-analysis of 31 RCTs.

"In this study, we aim to evaluate the efficiency and safety of traditional Chinese medicine foot bath combined with acupoint massage for the treatment of diabetic peripheral neuropathy. A total of eight online databases were searched to collect studies published up to February 2019. Study quality of each included article was evaluated by the Cochrane ..."

Fu Q., Yang H. et al. (2020) Traditional Chinese medicine foot bath combined with acupoint massage for the treatment of diabetic peripheral neuropathy: A systematic review and meta-analysis of 31 RCTs. Diabetes Metab Res Rev. 2020;36(2):e3218. 🔗

Evidence of efficacy of acupuncture in the management of low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised placebo- or sham-controlled trials.

"...RESULTS: 14 trials (2110 participants) were included in the review, and 9 were included in the meta-analysis. Immediately after the acupuncture treatment we found statistically significant differences in pain reduction between acupuncture and sham or placebo therapy (standardised mean difference (SMD) -0.40, 95% CI -0.54 to -0.25; I 7%; 753 participants; 9 studies), but there were no differences in function (weighted mean difference (WMD) -1.05, 95% CI -3.61 to 1.52; I 79%; 462 participants; 4 studies). At follow-up, there were significant differences in pain reduction (SMD -0.46, 95% CI -0.82 to -0.09; I 67%), but not in function (WMD -0.98, 95%CI -3.36 to 1.40; I 87%). We conducted subgroup analyses both immediately after treatment and at follow-up. ..."

Xiang Y., He J. et al. (2020) Evidence of efficacy of acupuncture in the management of low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised placebo- or sham-controlled trials. Acupunct Med. 2020;38(1):15-24. 🔗

Clinical Evidence for Association of Acupuncture and Acupressure With Improved Cancer Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

"Importance: Research into acupuncture and acupressure and their application for cancer pain has been growing, but the findings have been inconsistent. Objective: To evaluate the existing randomized clinical trials (RCTs) for evidence of the association of acupuncture and acupressure with reduction in cancer pain. Data Sources: Three English-language databases (PubMed, Embase, and CINAHL) and 4 ..."

He Y., Guo X. et al. (2020) Clinical Evidence for Association of Acupuncture and Acupressure With Improved Cancer Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. JAMA Oncol. 2020;6(2):271-278. 🔗

The Effectiveness of Acupuncture in the Treatment of Frozen Shoulder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

"...Results: A meta-analysis on VAS pain score showed significant pain reduction, restoring CMS shoulder function, and flexion ROM in favor of acupuncture versus the control. In external rotation and abduction ROM, a meta-analysis was not significant. The most used acupoints are Jian Yu (LI15) and Jian Liao (TB14). ..."

Ben-Arie E., Kao P. et al. (2020) The Effectiveness of Acupuncture in the Treatment of Frozen Shoulder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2020:9790470. 🔗

Meta-analysis of the therapeutic effect of acupuncture and chiropractic on cervical spondylosis radiculopathy: A systematic review and meta-analysis protocol.

"BACKGROUND: The pathogenesis of cervical spondylotic is degenerative changes of the cervical intervertebral disc, or bone hyperplasia of the posterior and hook joints, and instability of the joints of the cervical vertebrae. It causes the nerve roots to be stimulated and oppressed. The clinical manifestations are the sensation, movement, and reflex disorder of the ..."

Wang P., Zuo G. et al. (2020) Meta-analysis of the therapeutic effect of acupuncture and chiropractic on cervical spondylosis radiculopathy: A systematic review and meta-analysis protocol. Medicine (Baltimore). 2020;99(5):e18851. 🔗

Effectiveness of Acupuncture for Lateral Epicondylitis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

"...Results: Ten RCTs involving 796 individuals were included in this meta-analysis. Three studies reported randomized methods with a specific description. For the analyses of the clinical efficacy rate, acupuncture outperformed sham acupuncture (two RCTs, = 130, =0.15), medicine therapy (two RCTs, = 124, =0.02), and blocking therapy (four RCTs, = 427, =0.0001). For the analyses of the visual analog scale, acupuncture outperformed sham acupuncture (two RCTs, = 92, =0.18), medicine therapy (two RCTs, = 144, < 0.00001), and blocking therapy (two RCTs, = 132, =0.03). The subgroup analyses comparing acupuncture with sham acupuncture therapy revealed heterogeneities. The follow-up information and adverse reactions were not analyzed because of the insufficient number of studies. ..."

Zhou Y., Guo Y. et al. (2020) Effectiveness of Acupuncture for Lateral Epicondylitis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Pain Res Manag. 2020:8506591. 🔗

Effects of Acupuncture on Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

"...Results: A total of 15 articles were included, and relief of DOMS-related pain was the primary outcome. The statistical meta-analysis showed that there were no significant differences between acupuncture and sham/control groups, except for acupuncture for DOMS on day 1 (total SMD = -0.62; 95% CI = -1.12∼0.11, < 0.05) by comparing with control groups. ..."

Chang W., Chang N. et al. (2020) Effects of Acupuncture on Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2020:5864057. 🔗

Acupuncture and related interventions for carpal tunnel syndrome: systematic review.

"...RESULTS: A total of 10 RCTs (728 participants) were included. Majority were at high risk of bias for blinding of participants, personnel and outcome assessors. When compared to conventional medications, manual acupuncture showed significant superior effect in reducing symptom than ibuprofen (mean difference (MD) on Symptom Severity Scale (SSS)) = -5.80, 95% confidence interval (CI): -7.95 to -3.65) and prednisolone (MD = -6.50, 95% CI: -10.1, -2.86). Electroacupuncture plus splinting was more effective in reducing symptom severity than splinting alone (SSS score: MD = -0.20, 95% CI: -0.36 to -0.03). Manual acupuncture showed significantly superior effect than ibuprofen in improving functional status (Functional Status Scale (FSS): MD = -1.84, 95% CI: -2.66 to -1.02). The combination of electroacupuncture and splinting showed more improvement in functional status compared to splinting alone (FSS: MD = -6.22, 95%CI: -10.7 to -1.71). Triple treatment of acupuncture, magnetic spectrum heat lamp and splinting showed stronger pain relief than splinting alone. ..."

Wu I., Lam V. et al. (2020) Acupuncture and related interventions for carpal tunnel syndrome: systematic review. Clin Rehabil. 2020;34(1):34-44. 🔗

Acupuncture for the Relief of Chronic Pain: A Synthesis of Systematic Reviews.

": It is estimated that 28 million people in the UK live with chronic pain. A biopsychosocial approach to chronic pain is recommended which combines pharmacological interventions with behavioural and non-pharmacological treatments. Acupuncture represents one of a number of non-pharmacological interventions for pain. In the current climate of difficult commissioning decisions and constantly changing national guidance, ..."

Paley C. & Johnson M. (2019) Acupuncture for the Relief of Chronic Pain: A Synthesis of Systematic Reviews. Medicina (Kaunas). 2019;56(1). 🔗

Effectiveness and safety of moxibustion in treatment of lumbar disc herniation: a systematic review and Meta-analysis.

"...RESULTS: In total, 16 RCTs including 1186 patients with LDH were analyzed. The Meta-analysis showed favorable effects of moxibustion in combination with massage therapy on the visual analog scale score compared with massage therapy alone [mean difference (MD) = -1.32, 95% confidence interval (CI) (-2.12, -0.51), P = 0.001]. The subgroup Meta-analysis failed to show favorable effects of electro-acupuncture plus moxibustion on the efficacy rate compared with electro-acupuncture alone [relative risk (RR) = 1.06, 95% CI (0.98, 1.14), P = 0.15]. However, acupuncture or massage therapy plus moxibustion improved the efficacy rates compared with acupuncture or massage therapy alone [RR = 1.33, 95% CI (1.18, 1.49), P < 0.000 01] [χ2 = 2.76, P = 0.25, I2 = 27%], [RR = 1.15, 95% CI (1.06, 1.25), P = 0.001] [χ2 = 0.00, P = 0.95, I2 = 0%]. With respect to the Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) scores, acupuncture or massage therapy in addition to moxibustion produced results different from those of acupuncture or massage therapy alone [MD = 5.58, 95% CI (4.15, 7.00), P < 0.000 01] [χ2 = 0.58, P = 0.45, I2 = 0%], [MD = 3.61, 95% CI (3.01, 4.21), P < 0.000 01].There were no significant differences in the JOA score for subjective symptoms, objective symptoms, daily living ability, and other parameters. In six RCTs, no adverse reactions occurred during moxibustion. ..."

Wang Y., Zhang H. et al. (2019) Effectiveness and safety of moxibustion in treatment of lumbar disc herniation: a systematic review and Meta-analysis. J Tradit Chin Med. 2019;39(5):599-608. 🔗

Efficacy of acupuncture in rheumatic diseases with spine involvement: Systematic review.

"Rheumatic diseases involving the spine, mainly cervical and lumbar spine, are highly prevalent, and consume considerable health resources. Acupuncture is a medical procedure endorsed by the WHO, with a wide spectrum of medical applications. The aim of this study was to review the evidence on acupuncture efficacy in these diseases. A literature search was ..."

Nishishinya Aquino M., Pereda C. et al. (2019) Efficacy of acupuncture in rheumatic diseases with spine involvement: Systematic review. Med Clin (Barc). 2019;153(6):250-255. 🔗

Auricular acupuncture for chronic back pain in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

"...RESULTS: 427 studies were located, 15 included in the qualitative analysis, and seven in the quantitative analysis. Auricular acupuncture led to positive results in 80% of the studies. The most commonly used outcomes were pain intensity and quality, medication consumption, physical disability, and quality of life. There is a lack of protocol standardization for auricular acupuncture for chronic back pain. The metanalysis results showed that auricular acupuncture was effective in reducing pain intensity scores (p=0.038). ..."

Moura C., Chaves E. et al. (2019) Auricular acupuncture for chronic back pain in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Rev Esc Enferm USP. 2019;53:e03461. 🔗

Acupotomy for the treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

"...RESULTS: Seven RCTs were included in this review and meta-analysis. The methodological quality of the included studies was generally poor. The acupotomy treatment group was associated with significantly lower visual analogue scale scores (range 0∼10) (5 RCTs; mean difference [MD] -1.55, 95% confidence interval [CIs] -2.60 to -0.50; I = 94%) and higher Japanese Orthopedic Association Score (3 RCTs; MD 4.70, 95% CI 3.73 to 5.68; I = 0%) compared to the active control group. In subgroup analysis based on the type of active controls, acupotomy retained significant benefits over lumbar traction and acupuncture, as well as over lumbar traction, spinal decompression, and acupuncture. Safety data were reported in only 1 study, and no adverse events occurred in either the acupotomy or the acupuncture control group. ..."

Kwon C., Yoon S. et al. (2019) Acupotomy for the treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Medicine (Baltimore). 2019;98(32):e16662. 🔗

Invasive and non-invasive acupuncture techniques for pain management in neonates: a systematic review.

"...RESULTS: The literature search revealed a total of 12 196 records. After application of inclusion criteria, five studies were included in this review. Two studies demonstrated significant pain reduction, one found equal outcomes in comparison to standard care, and two showed significantly higher pain scores with acupuncture alone. LIMITATIONS: The main limitation of the results is the heterogeneity across trials in acupuncture modality, acupuncture point selection, control groups and pain assessment (heterogeneity: I=87%). ..."

Stadler J., Raith W. et al. (2019) Invasive and non-invasive acupuncture techniques for pain management in neonates: a systematic review. Acupunct Med. 2019;37(4):201-210. 🔗

Distal acupoint stimulation versus peri-incisional stimulation for postoperative pain in open abdominal surgery: a systematic review and implications for clinical practice.

"...RESULTS: Thirty-five trials were included, in which 17 trials studied distal stimulation, another 17 trials studied peri-incisional stimulation and one studied the combination of the two approaches. No studies that directly compared the two approaches were identified. Subgroup analysis showed that both distal and peri-incisional stimulation significantly alleviated postoperative resting and movement pain from 4 h to 48 h after surgery by 6 to 25 mm on a 100 mm visual analogue scale. Peri-incisional stimulation showed a better reduction in postoperative opioid consumption. No studies compared the effects of the combined peri-incisional and distal stimulation with either mode alone. Overall the quality of evidence was moderate due to a lack of blinding in some studies, and unclear risk of allocation concealment. ..."

Zhu J., Xu Q. et al. (2019) Distal acupoint stimulation versus peri-incisional stimulation for postoperative pain in open abdominal surgery: a systematic review and implications for clinical practice. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2019;19(1):192. 🔗

The effectiveness of superficial versus deep dry needling or acupuncture for reducing pain and disability in individuals with spine-related painful conditions: a systematic review with meta-analysis.

": The purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate the effects of deep versus superficial dry needling or acupuncture on pain and disability for spine-related painful conditions. A secondary purpose was to account for the differences of needling location in relation to the painful area. : This PROSPERO (#CRD42018106237) registered review found 691 titles through a ..."

Griswold D., Wilhelm M. et al. (2019) The effectiveness of superficial versus deep dry needling or acupuncture for reducing pain and disability in individuals with spine-related painful conditions: a systematic review with meta-analysis. J Man Manip Ther. 2019;27(3):128-140. 🔗

A systematic review of acupuncture for chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy.

"...Results: Three clinical trials (203 participants) were included. Two studies found acupuncture to be effective in alleviating cipn pain and improving quality of life. One study found no benefit in improving neuropathic pain, symptoms, or quality of life. Study quality was variable and included a moderate overall risk of bias. ..."

Li K., Giustini D. et al. (2019) A systematic review of acupuncture for chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. Curr Oncol. 2019;26(2):e147-e154. 🔗

Acupuncture in adults with Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy: a systematic review.

"...RESULTS: of the five articles included, four were cohort studies and one was a quasi-experimental study. All articles showed that acupuncture was associated with an improvement in the peripheral neuropathy, but the type of protocol, use of medications, time of treatment, and different outcome measures made it difficult to compare the studies. ..."

Baviera A., Olson K. et al. (2019) Acupuncture in adults with Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy: a systematic review. Rev Lat Am Enfermagem. 2019;27:e3126. 🔗

Effects of Auricular Acupressure on Pain Management: A Systematic Review.

"...RESULTS: Twelve studies reported statistically significant improvement in the pain outcomes of AA treatment compared with the sham or standard care groups. When methodologic quality was assessed, the selected studies had medium quality, but there was a lack of high quality. This supports that the use of AA for patients may enhance self-management for their pain. However, the small number of studies and the lack of consistent rigorous methodology across the studies preclude definitive statements regarding the effectiveness of AA. ..."

You E., Kim D. et al. (2019) Effects of Auricular Acupressure on Pain Management: A Systematic Review. Pain Manag Nurs. 2019;20(1):17-24. 🔗

Acupuncture for the treatment of lower limb diabetic peripheral neuropathy: a systematic review.

"...RESULTS: Ten studies with 432 participants were included: three randomised controlled trials (RCTs), two pilot RCTs, three uncontrolled clinical trials, one quasi-RCT and one prospective case series. Improvements in DPN pain symptoms were reported by all studies. Heterogeneity of outcome measures prevented a meta-analysis. Variations were found in needle retention time and point selection, as well as total number and frequency of treatments. Common acupuncture point selections were ST36 and SP6. Half of the studies used local point selection. Studies conducted outside China had better acupuncture reporting and quality according to the STRICTA checklist and NICMAN scales, respectively. Risk of bias was high or unclear in the majority of studies for all domains except attrition bias. ..."

Nash J., Armour M. et al. (2019) Acupuncture for the treatment of lower limb diabetic peripheral neuropathy: a systematic review. Acupunct Med. 2019;37(1):3-15. 🔗

Acupuncture for primary trigeminal neuralgia: A systematic review and PRISMA-compliant meta-analysis.

"...RESULTS: Thirty-three RCTs were included. Meta-analysis results demonstrated that the effect of both manual acupuncture (MA) and electro-acupuncture (EA) for improving response rate and recurrence rate was more significant than carbamazepine. Besides, MA achieved more significant effect on alleviating pain intensity. Moreover, acupuncture combined with carbamazepine had a more positive effect on response rate than carbamazepine alone. ..."

Hu H., Chen L. et al. (2019) Acupuncture for primary trigeminal neuralgia: A systematic review and PRISMA-compliant meta-analysis. Complement Ther Clin Pract. 2019;34:254-267. 🔗

Acupotomy Therapy for Shoulder Adhesive Capsulitis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

"...Results: A total of eight RCTs involving 501 patients were enrolled. Meta-analysis showed that acupotomy was significantly better than the control group in debasing the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score (MD = -0.97, 95% CI = [-1.49, -0.45], =0.0003) and improving the Constant-Murley Score (CMS) (MD = 8.46, 95% CI = [1.04, 15.87], =0.03), and there was no significant difference in adverse events (OR = 1.24, 95% CI = [0.34, 4.52], =0.74) between the two groups. ..."

You J., Yang F. et al. (2019) Acupotomy Therapy for Shoulder Adhesive Capsulitis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2019:2010816. 🔗

The effectiveness of dry needling for patients with orofacial pain associated with temporomandibular dysfunction: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

"...RESULTS: Seven trials were considered eligible. There was discrepancy among dry needling treatment protocols. Meta-analysis showed that dry needling is better than other interventions for pain intensity as well as than sham therapy on pressure pain threshold, but there is very low-quality evidence and a small effect size. There were no statistically significant differences in other outcomes. ..."

Vier C., Almeida M. et al. (2019) The effectiveness of dry needling for patients with orofacial pain associated with temporomandibular dysfunction: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Braz J Phys Ther. 2019;23(1):3-11. 🔗

Comparisons of the Effectiveness and Safety of Tuina, Acupuncture, Traction, and Chinese Herbs for Lumbar Disc Herniation: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis.

"...Results: One hundred and twenty-one studies involving a total of 13075 patients were included. In all the outcome measurements, traction demonstrated a worst effectiveness, and Tuina and acupuncture demonstrated a best effectiveness, but no significant differences were found between Tuina and acupuncture. Compared with Tuina or acupuncture, Chinese herbs showed a similar effectiveness in Visual Analogue Score and Japanese Orthopedic Association Scores, but an inferior effectiveness in invalid rate and cure rate. ..."

Mo Z., Li D. et al. (2019) Comparisons of the Effectiveness and Safety of Tuina, Acupuncture, Traction, and Chinese Herbs for Lumbar Disc Herniation: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2019:6821310. 🔗

Acupuncture for Chronic Pain-Related Insomnia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

"Acupuncture has been widely used to relieve chronic pain-related insomnia (CPRI). However, the efficacy of acupuncture for CPRI is uncertain. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture for CPRI. Seven electronic databases were searched from inception to December 2018. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included if acupuncture was compared to ..."

Liu F., You J. et al. (2019) Acupuncture for Chronic Pain-Related Insomnia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2019:5381028. 🔗

Is acupuncture an effective postherpetic neuralgia treatment? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

"...Results: Acupuncture helps relieve pain intensity (standardized mean difference [SMD]: -1.78, 95% confidence interval [CI]: -2.36 to -1.21). For other intervention types, electroacupuncture (SMD: -1.28, 95% CI: -2.51 to -0.05), fire needle (SMD: -2.23, 95% CI: -2.62 to -1.84), bloodletting and cupping (SMD: -2.46, 95% CI: -2.95 to -1.97) have better effects on pain intensity relief. To date, no study has reported on the onset of pain relief time. The Hamilton Anxiety Scale score (SMD: -18.94, 95% CI: -37.37 to -0.52) was lower for the acupuncture group than for the control group. It was also found that acupuncture can improve quality of life (QOL) (SMD: 3.78, 95% CI: 2.50 to 5.06). The quality of evidence for acupuncture for PHN pain intensity was moderate according to the GRADE system. ..."

Pei W., Zeng J. et al. (2019) Is acupuncture an effective postherpetic neuralgia treatment? A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Pain Res. 2019;12:2155-2165. 🔗

Central and Peripheral Mechanism of Acupuncture Analgesia on Visceral Pain: A Systematic Review.

"...Results: We retrieved 192 articles, out of which 46 studies were included in our review. The results of our review demonstrated that visceral pain behaviors were significantly alleviated in response to acupuncture treatment in groups treated with this intervention compared to in sham acupuncture or no-treatment groups. Changes in the concentrations of -endorphin, epinephrine, cortisol, and prostaglandin E2 in plasma, the levels of c-Fos, substance P, corticotropin-releasing hormone, P2X3, acetylcholinesterase (AchE), N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors, and serotonin in the gut/spinal cord, and the neuronal activity of the thalamus were associated with acupuncture treatment in visceral pain. ..."

Lee I., Cheon S. et al. (2019) Central and Peripheral Mechanism of Acupuncture Analgesia on Visceral Pain: A Systematic Review. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2019:1304152. 🔗

Acupuncture for Post-stroke Shoulder-Hand Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

"Shoulder-hand syndrome (SHS) is prevalent in hemiplegic patients after stroke. Potential benefits of acupuncture were shown in recent clinical trials. This systematic review aimed to comprehensively evaluate the safety and efficacy of acupuncture for SHS in stroke patients. Five English databases (PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, CENTRAL, and AMED) and four Chinese databases (CBM, CNKI, CQVIP, ..."

Liu S., Zhang C. et al. (2019) Acupuncture for Post-stroke Shoulder-Hand Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Front Neurol. 2019;10:433. 🔗

Comparing Verum and Sham Acupuncture in Fibromyalgia Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

"...Results: Ten RCTs (690 participants) were eligible, and eight RCTs were eventually included in the meta-analysis. The synthesis showed a sizable effect of verum acupuncture compared with sham acupuncture on pain relief (standardized mean difference (SMD) -0.49, = 3.26, =0.001; = 59%), improving sleep quality (SMD -0.46, = 3.24, =0.001; = 0%), and reforming general status (SMD -0.69, = 6.27, < 0.00001; = 4%). However, efficacy on fatigue was insignificant (SMD -0.10, = 0.51, =0.61; = 46%). When compared with a combination of simulation and improper location of needling, the effect of verum acupuncture for pain relief was the most obvious. ..."

Kim J., Kim S. et al. (2019) Comparing Verum and Sham Acupuncture in Fibromyalgia Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2019:8757685. 🔗

Acupuncture therapy for fibromyalgia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

"...Results: We identified 12 RCTs that compared acupuncture therapy to sham acupuncture or conventional medication. Meta-analysis showed that acupuncture was significantly better than sham acupuncture for relieving pain (MD =-1.04, 95% CI [-1.70, -0.38], =0.002, =78%) and improving the quality of life (MD =-13.39, 95% CI [-21.69, -5.10], =0.002, =82%), with low- to moderate-quality evidence in the short term. At follow-up in the long term, the effect of acupuncture was also superior to that of sham acupuncture. No serious adverse events were found during acupuncture. ..."

Zhang X., Chen H. et al. (2019) Acupuncture therapy for fibromyalgia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. J Pain Res. 2019;12:527-542. 🔗

Acupuncture for postherpetic neuralgia: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

"...RESULTS: Seven RCTs comparing acupuncture versus pharmacologic therapy were included. Meta-analysis was conducted for acupuncture's effect on PHN evaluating by pain intensity. Results from 2 RCTs showed that compared with pharmacologic therapy, acupuncture was better in decreasing the pain intensity measured by visual analog scale score (mean difference: 1.80, 95% confidence interval 1.72-1.87; P < .001). The limitations of the study are as follows: only trials comparing acupuncture versus pharmacologic therapy were included and all of the included trials were performed in China. ..."

Wang Y., Li W. et al. (2018) Acupuncture for postherpetic neuralgia: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Medicine (Baltimore). 2018;97(34):e11986. 🔗

The efficacy and safety of acupuncture in women with primary dysmenorrhea: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

"...RESULTS: This review included 60 RCTs; the meta-analysis included 49 RCTs. Most studies showed a low or unclear risk of bias. We found that compared to no treatment, manual acupuncture (MA) (SMD = -1.59, 95% CI [-2.12, -1.06]) and electro-acupuncture (EA) was more effective at reducing menstrual pain, and compared to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), MA (SMD = -0.63, 95% CI [-0.88, -0.37]) and warm acupuncture (WA) (SMD = -1.12, 95% CI [-1.81, -0.43]) were more effective at reducing menstrual pain. Some studies showed that the efficacy of acupuncture was maintained after a short-term follow-up. ..."

Woo H., Ji H. et al. (2018) The efficacy and safety of acupuncture in women with primary dysmenorrhea: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Medicine (Baltimore). 2018;97(23):e11007. 🔗

Acupuncture Treatment for Chronic Pelvic Pain in Women: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

"...Results: Four RCTs with 474 participants were included. The methodological quality of included studies was generally low. The results of meta-analysis of two studies showed that AT combined with conventional treatment (CT) was associated with significantly reduced CPP, based on the total effectiveness rate (n=277, mean difference = 1.29, confidence interval = 1.13 to 1.47, P=0.0001, I = 0%). ..."

Sung S., Sung A. et al. (2018) Acupuncture Treatment for Chronic Pelvic Pain in Women: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2018:9415897. 🔗

Cupping therapy versus acupuncture for pain-related conditions: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials and trial sequential analysis.

"...RESULTS: Twenty-three randomized trials with 2845 participants were included covering 12 pain-related conditions. All included studies were of poor methodological quality. Three meta-analyses were conducted, which showed similar clinical beneficial effects of cupping therapy and acupuncture for the rate of symptom improvement in cervical spondylosis (RR 1.13, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.26; n = 646), lateral femoral cutaneous neuritis (RR 1.10, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.22; n = 102) and scapulohumeral periarthritis (RR 1.31, 95% CI 1.15 to 1.51; n = 208). Results from other outcomes (such as visual analogue and numerical rating scale) in each study also showed no statistical significant difference between these two therapies for all included pain-related conditions. The results of TSA for cervical spondylosis demonstrated that the current available data have not reached a powerful conclusion. No serious adverse events related to cupping therapy or acupuncture was found in included studies. ..."

Zhang Y., Cao H. et al. (2017) Cupping therapy versus acupuncture for pain-related conditions: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials and trial sequential analysis. Chin Med. 2017;12:21. 🔗

Mechanisms of Acupuncture-Electroacupuncture on Persistent Pain

"In the last decade, preclinical investigations of electroacupuncture mechanisms on persistent tissue-injury (inflammatory), nerve-injury (neuropathic), cancer, and visceral pain have increased. These studies show that electroacupuncture activates the nervous system differently in health than in pain conditions, alleviates both sensory and affective inflammatory pain, and inhibits inflammatory and neuropathic pain more effectively at 2–10 Hz ..."

Zhang R., Lao L. et al. (2014) Mechanisms of Acupuncture-Electroacupuncture on Persistent Pain Anesthesiology. 2014;120(2):482-503. 🔗

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