Evidence map›Paper›PMID 18604251›Full record

ArticleEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2008

Acupuncture Treatment for Low Back Pain and Lower Limb Symptoms-The Relation between Acupuncture or Electroacupuncture Stimulation and Sciatic Nerve Blood Flow.

Motohiro Inoue, Hiroshi Kitakoji, Tadashi Yano, Naoto Ishizaki, Megumi Itoi, Yasukazu Katsumi

Open access · hybridAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
27citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
2.8field-weighted citation impact, top 10% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

27 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 74 citations in OpenAlex.

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  11. Acupuncture for radicular pain: a review of analgesic mechanism.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2024
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Motohiro InoueDepartment of Clinical Acupuncture and Moxibustion II, Department of health Promoting Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Department of Clinical Acupuncture and Moxibustion I and Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Meiji University of Oriental Medicine.
Hiroshi Kitakoji
Tadashi Yano
Naoto Ishizaki
Megumi Itoi
Yasukazu Katsumi
China Association of Acupuncture-Moxibustion · CNMeiji University of Integrative Medicine · JP

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

To investigate the clinical efficacy of acupuncture treatment for lumbar spinal canal stenosis and herniated lumbar disc and to clarify the mechanisms in an animal experiment that evaluated acupuncture on sciatic nerve blood flow. In the clinical trial, patients with lumbar spinal canal stenosis or herniated lumbar disc were divided into three treatment groups; (i) Ex-B2 (at the disordered level), (ii) electrical acupuncture (EA) on the pudendal nerve and (iii) EA at the nerve root. Primary outcome measurements were pain and dysesthesia [evaluated with a visual analogue scale (VAS)] and continuous walking distance. In the animal study, sciatic nerve blood flow was measured with laser-Doppler flowmetry at, before and during three kinds of stimulation (manual acupuncture on lumber muscle, electrical stimulation on the pudendal nerve and electrical stimulation on the sciatic nerve) in anesthetized rats. For the clinical trial, approximately half of the patients who received Ex-B2 revealed amelioration of the symptoms. EA on the pudendal nerve was effective for the symptoms which had not improved by Ex-B2. Considerable immediate and sustained relief was observed in patients who received EA at the nerve root. For the animal study, increase in sciatic nerve blood flow was observed in 56.9% of the trial with lumber muscle acupuncture, 100% with pudendal nerve stimulation and 100% with sciatic nerve stimulation. Sciatic nerve stimulation sustained the increase longer than pudendal nerve stimulation. One mechanism of action of acupuncture and electrical acupuncture stimulation could be that, in addition to its influence on the pain inhibitory system, it participates in causing a transient change in sciatic nerve blood blow, including circulation to the cauda equine and nerve root.

Indexed as

disc herniationpudendal nervesciatic nervespinal canal stenosisspinal nerve root

Identifiers

PMID18604251
PMCPMC2396470
OpenAlexW2171078401

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.