ReviewEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2017
The Immediate Analgesic Effect of Acupuncture for Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
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. Cited by 39 papers, 4 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
39 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Efficacy and safety of acupuncture for pain relief: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2024Pooled it
- Use of Acupuncture for Adult Health Conditions, 2013 to 2021: A Systematic Review.JAMA network open · 2022Pooled it
- Acupuncture Therapy as an Evidence-Based Nonpharmacologic Strategy for Comprehensive Acute Pain Care: The Academic Consortium Pain Task Force White Paper Update.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2022Pooled it
- Clinical efficacy of acupuncture for pain relief from renal colic: A meta-analysis and trial sequence analysis.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Acupuncture versus Lornoxicam in the Treatment of Acute Renal Colic: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of pain research · 2021Trial
- Trial
- Therapeutic mechanisms of acupuncture therapy for acute pain in the emergency department.Integrative medicine research · 2026Review
- Exploring Pain Researcher and Clinician Perceptions of Complementary, Alternative, and Integrative Medicine: A Large-Scale, International Cross-Sectional Survey.Pain practice : the official journal of World Institute of Pain · 2026Article
- Safety and Effectiveness of Integrative Korean Medicine Treatment for Pediatric Patients After Traffic Accidents: Retrospective Chart Review and Survey Research with a Focus on Emotional and Behavioral Symptoms.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Acupuncture for Rapid Pain Relief and Restoration of Motor Function in Acute Lateral Ankle Sprains: A Randomized Controlled Trial Protocol Based on Infrared Thermography.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
- Article
- Mesenchymal stem cells as a therapeutic strategy to combat oxidative stress-mediated neuropathic pain.BioImpacts : BI · 2025Review
- Immediate analgesic effect of acupuncture for acute primary dysmenorrhea: protocol of a randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Recent advances in acupuncture for pain relief.Pain reports · 2024Article
- Article
- Firefighters' medical use and Korean Medicine experience in Korea: A qualitative study protocol.PloS one · 2024Article
- ANF therapyJournal of physical therapy science · 2023Article
- Personalized checkpoint acupuncture can reduce postoperative pain after abdominal surgery-a STRICTA-conform pilot study.Langenbeck's archives of surgery · 2023Article
- Reduction of Pain After Laparoscopic Bariatric Surgery by Personalized Checkpoint Acupuncture-Data of a STRICTA Conform Pilot Study.Obesity surgery · 2023Article
- Differential clinical characteristics across traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) Syndromes in patients with sickle cell disease.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Although acupuncture is gaining popularity for the treatment of nonspecific pain, the immediate analgesic effect of acupuncture has never been reviewed. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on disease-related pain to critically evaluate the immediate effect of acupuncture for pain relief. The PubMed and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases as well as three Chinese databases including the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang, and VIP platforms were searched through November 2016. The outcome was the extent of pain relief from baseline within 30 min of the first acupuncture treatment. We evaluated all RCTs comparing acupuncture with other interventions for disease-related pain. Real acupuncture showed statistically significantly greater pain relief effect compared to sham acupuncture (SMD, -0.56; 95% confidence interval [CI], -1.00 to -0.12; 9 RCTs) and analgesic injection (SMD, -1.33; 95% CI, -1.94 to -0.72; 3 RCTs). No serious adverse events were documented. Acupuncture was associated with a greater immediate pain relief effect compared to sham acupuncture and analgesic injections. Further RCTs with stricter design and methodologies are warranted to evaluate the immediate pain relief effect of acupuncture for more disease-related pain.
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.