ReviewEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2017
Efficacy of Auricular Acupressure for Chronic Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.
Review in Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07530042 (Efficacy of Electroacupuncture Combined With Auricular Acupressure in Patients With Chronic Low Back Pain Due to Lumbar Spondylosis With Kidney Yin Deficiency Syndrome), which is not on this map. Cited by 23 papers, 3 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.
Efficacy of Electroacupuncture Combined With Auricular Acupressure in Patients With Chronic Low Back Pain Due to Lumbar Spondylosis With Kidney Yin Deficiency Syndrome: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- [Effect of Auriculotherapy on Musculoskeletal Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis].Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing · 2022Pooled it
- Auricular acupressure for overweight and obese individuals: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Medicine · 2019Pooled it
- Effectiveness of Auricular Acupressure for Acute Postoperative Pain after Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Chinese journal of integrative medicine · 2019Pooled it
- Auricular point acupressure for older adults with chronic low back pain: a randomized controlled trial.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2025Trial
- The Effects of Auricular Acupressure on Low Back Pain, Neuropathy and Sleep in Patients with Persistent Spinal Pain Syndrome (PSPS): A Single-Blind, Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Trial
- Individual vs. Group Delivery of Acupuncture Therapy for Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain in Urban Primary Care-a Randomized Trial.Journal of general internal medicine · 2020Trial
- Laser auriculotherapy for the treatment of pain: a scoping review.Lasers in medical science · 2026Article
- Article
- Identification of auricular acupoints using a convolutional neural network.Integrative medicine research · 2026Article
- Adapting a Smartphone-Based Auricular Point Acupressure Self-Management Program for Rural Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: Qualitative Study.Health services insights · 2026Article
- Tailoring an auricular point acupressure self-management program for chronic pain: lessons learned from rural partners.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Acupoint massage: a comprehensive descriptive review of its forms, applications, and underlying mechanisms.Chinese medicine · 2025Review
- Adapting and Evaluating a Theory-Driven, Non-Pharmacological Intervention to Self-Manage Pain.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Efficacy of thumbtack needle acupuncture combined with PCIA on patients after laparoscopic myomectomy: a randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Article
- Acupuncture for Low Back Pain: Reevaluation of Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses.Current pain and headache reports · 2023Review
- Effect of Acupoint Stimulation on Controlling Pain from Heel Lance in Neonates: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Biological Correlates of the Effects of Auricular Point Acupressure on Pain.Pain management nursing : official journal of the American Society of Pain Management Nurses · 2023Article
- The Role of Acupuncture in Treating a Patient with a Gambling Disorder.Medical acupuncture · 2022Article
- Effects of SP6 and ST36 Acupressure on Pain and Physiological Indexes in Addicted Men: A Single-Blind Randomized Clinical Trial.Addiction & health · 2022Article
- Acupuncture Therapies for Addressing Post Odontectomy Neuropathy.Medical acupuncture · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo identify the efficacy of auricular acupressure on pain and disability for chronic LBP by systematic review.
methodsA search of randomized controlled trials was conducted in four English medical electronic databases and three Chinese databases. Two reviewers independently retrieved related studies, assessed the methodological quality, and extracted data with a standardized data form. Meta-analyses were performed using all time-points meta-analysis.
resultsA total of 7 trials met the inclusion criteria, of which 4 had the low risk of bias. The findings of this study showed that, for the immediate effect, auricular acupressure had large, significant effects in improving pain within 12 weeks. As for the follow-up effect, the pooled estimates also showed promising effect at 4-week follow-up after 4-week intervention (standardized mean difference = -1.13, 95% CI (-1.70, -0.56),
conclusionsThe encouraging evidence of this study indicates that it is recommended to provide auricular acupressure to patients with chronic low back pain. However, a more accurate estimate of the effect will require further rigorously designed large-scale RCTs on chronic LBP for improving pain and disability.
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.