ArticleChinese medicine2010
Reduction of chronic non-specific low back pain: a randomised controlled clinical trial on acupuncture and baclofen.
Article in Chinese medicine, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 62 citations in OpenAlex.
- Long-Term Use of Muscle Relaxant Medications for Chronic Pain: A Systematic Review.JAMA network open · 2024Pooled it
- Predictors of success of pharmacological management in patients with chronic lower back pain: systematic review.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2024Pooled it
- Clinical efficacy of acupuncture therapy combined with core muscle exercises in treating patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Systematic Review to Inform a World Health Organization (WHO) Clinical Practice Guideline: Benefits and Harms of Needling Therapies for Chronic Primary Low Back Pain in Adults.Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2023Pooled it
- Acupuncture in chronic aspecific low back pain: a Bayesian network meta-analysis.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2022Pooled it
- Efficacy, acceptability, and safety of muscle relaxants for adults with non-specific low back pain: systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2021Pooled it
- Acupuncture for chronic nonspecific low back pain.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- The effect of journal impact factor, reporting conflicts, and reporting funding sources, on standardized effect sizes in back pain trials: a systematic review and meta-regression.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2015Pooled it
- Traditional Chinese medicine for neck pain and low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2015Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety of treating chronic nonspecific low back pain with radial extracorporeal shock wave therapy (rESWT), rESWT combined with celecoxib and eperisone (C + E) or C + E alone: a prospective, randomized trial.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2021Trial
- Trial
- Trial
- Efficacy of Bee Venom Acupuncture for Chronic Low Back Pain: A Randomized, Double-Blinded, Sham-Controlled Trial.Toxins · 2017Trial
- Trial
- Acupuncture with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) versus acupuncture or NSAIDs alone for the treatment of chronic neck pain: an assessor-blinded randomised controlled pilot study.Acupuncture in medicine : journal of the British Medical Acupuncture Society · 2014Trial
- Trial
- Article
- Dose-Response Relationship Between Acupuncture Parameters and Pain Reduction in Chronic Non-Specific Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of pain research · 2026Review
- Pharmacological interventions for patients with chronic primary musculoskeletal pain: disparity between synthesized evidence and real-world clinical practice.Pain reports · 2025Article
- Acupuncture as an alternative or in addition to conventional treatment for chronic non-specific low back pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Integrative medicine research · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundChronic non-specific low back pain (LBP) is a prevalent (80%) and multi-dimensional illness. This study aims to test whether acupuncture, baclofen, or combined treatment with acupuncture and baclofen alleviates symptoms of non-specific chronic LBP in men.
methodsEight-four (84) men aged 50-60 years with non-specific chronic LBP were randomly assigned to four groups: the baclofen group received only baclofen (30 mg/day); the acupuncture group received only acupuncture at selected acupoints; the acupuncture + baclofen group received combined treatment with acupuncture and baclofen treatments; and the control group received no pain reduction treatment. After five weeks of treatment, visual analogue scale (VAS) and self-reported pain disability with the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (RDQ) were conducted for outcome measures.
resultsAfter treatment, the baclofen, acupuncture and acupuncture + baclofen groups all had lower VAS and RDQ scores. Significantly higher reduction and improvement in VAS and RDQ scores were found in the acupuncture and acupuncture + baclofen groups compared to the baclofen group.
conclusionThe present study indicates that the combined treatment of acupuncture and baclofen is more effective than baclofen treatment alone to reduce pain in patients with non-specific chronic LBP. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ACTRN12609000698279.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.