Trial reportBMC complementary and alternative medicine2012
Efficacy of acupuncture for chronic knee pain: protocol for a randomised controlled trial using a Zelen design.
Trial report in BMC complementary and alternative medicine, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02762734 (Multicenter Randomized Prevention Trial of Recurrence of Suicide Attempt by Adolescent by Sending SMS), which is not on this map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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.
Multicenter Randomized Prevention Trial of Recurrence of Suicide Attempt by Adolescent by Sending SMS (MEDIACONNEX)
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Acupuncture and moxibustion for lateral elbow pain: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials.BMC complementary and alternative medicine · 2014Pooled it
- Trial
- MEDIACONNEX: a multicenter randomised trial based on short message service to reduce suicide attempt recurrence in adolescents.BMC psychiatry · 2016Trial
- Trial
- Pain Modulation, Inflammation-Regulatory Mechanisms, and Translational Boundaries of Evidence for Acupuncture-Related Therapies in Knee Osteoarthritis: A Structured Narrative Review.Journal of pain research · 2026Review
- AI-Assisted Knee Infrared Imaging Based Acupuncture for Treating Knee Osteoarthritis: A Randomized Controlled Study Protocol.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
- The Case for Moxibustion for Painful Syndromes: History, principles and rationale.Current research in complementary & alternative medicine · 2022Article
- The Efficacy and Safety of Simple-Needling Therapy for Treating Ankylosing Spondylitis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2020Review
- Therapeutic effects of moxibustion simultaneously targeting Nrf2 and NF-κB in diabetic peripheral neuropathy.Applied biochemistry and biotechnology · 2019Article
- Implementation of Electrical Auricular Acupuncture and Low Frequency Modulated Electric Current Therapy in Pain Management of Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Randomized Pilot Trial.Journal of clinical medicine · 2019Article
- A retrospective study of acupuncture as an adjunctive therapy to topical ibuprofen for chronic knee pain due to osteoarthritis.Medicine · 2019Observational
- REDUCTION IN KNEE PAIN SYMPTOMS IN ATHLETES USING AN ACUPUNCTURE PROTOCOL.Acta ortopedica brasileira · 2018Article
- Interference of strength training can obviously increase the effect of moxibustion treatment on patients with knee joints injuries.International journal of clinical and experimental medicine · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 8 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundChronic knee pain is a common and disabling condition in people over 50 years of age, with knee joint osteoarthritis being a major cause. Acupuncture is a popular form of complementary and alternative medicine for treating pain and dysfunction associated with musculoskeletal conditions. This pragmatic Zelen-design randomised controlled trial is investigating the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of needle and laser acupuncture, administered by medical practitioners, in people with chronic knee pain. METHODS/
designTwo hundred and eighty two people aged over 50 years with chronic knee pain have been recruited from metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria, Australia. Participants originally consented to participate in a longitudinal natural history study but were then covertly randomised into one of four treatment groups. One group continued as originally consented (ie natural history group) and received no acupuncture treatment. The other three were treatment groups: i) laser acupuncture, ii) sham laser or, iii) needle acupuncture. Acupuncture treatments used a combined Western and Traditional Chinese Medicine style, were delivered by general practitioners and comprised 8-12 visits over 12 weeks. Follow-up is currently ongoing. The primary outcomes are pain measured by an 11-point numeric rating scale (NRS) and self-reported physical function measured by the Western Ontario and McMaster (WOMAC) Universities Osteoarthritis Index subscale at the completion of treatment at 12 weeks. Secondary outcomes include quality of life, global rating of change scores and additional measures of pain (other NRS and WOMAC subscale) and physical function (NRS). Additional parameters include a range of psychosocial measures in order to evaluate potential relationships with acupuncture treatment outcomes. Relative cost-effectiveness will be determined from health service usage and outcome data. Follow-up assessments will also occur at 12 months. DISCUSSION: The findings from this study will help determine whether laser and/or needle acupuncture is efficacious, and cost-effective, in the management of chronic knee pain in older people.
trial registrationAustralian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry reference: ACTRN12609001001280.
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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.