ArticleJournal of pain research2018
Appropriateness of sham or placebo acupuncture for randomized controlled trials of acupuncture for nonspecific low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Article in Journal of pain research, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03823456 (Self-acupressure for Cancer-related Symptom Cluster of Insomnia, Depression, and Anxiety in Cancer Patients), which is not on this map. Cited by 25 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.
Self-acupressure for Cancer-related Symptom Cluster of Insomnia, Depression, and Anxiety in Cancer Patients: a Feasibility Randomized Controlled Trial
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 49 citations in OpenAlex.
- Placebo Response among Different Types of Sham Acupuncture for Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Chinese journal of integrative medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Potential Role for Stem Cell Regenerative Therapy as a Treatment for Degenerative Disc Disease and Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Pooled it
- Acupuncture for the Management of Low Back Pain.Current pain and headache reports · 2021Pooled it
- Dry needling of the gluteus-medius muscle, combined with standard care, for chronic low back pain - a pilot randomized sham-controlled trial.The Journal of manual & manipulative therapy · 2025Trial
- Lidocaine for Depressive Symptoms and Comorbid Pain: A Narrative Review of Mechanisms, Evidence, and Safety.Drug design, development and therapy · 2026Review
- Acupuncture modulates the microbiota-gut-brain axis: a novel therapeutic strategy for amnestic mild cognitive impairment.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Article
- A randomized controlled trial of acupuncture and receptive music therapy for sleep disorders in the elderly-ELAMUS: study protocol.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2024Article
- Evaluating the effect of acupuncture on symptoms of diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) among individuals with diabetic neuropathy: A single-blind, randomized trial study.Journal of diabetes and metabolic disorders · 2023Article
- [Complementary and alternative medicine-An option for chronic pain patients?]Schmerz (Berlin, Germany) · 2023Article
- Bibliometric and Visual Analysis in the Field of Dry Needling for Myofascial Pain Syndrome from 2000 to 2022.Journal of pain research · 2023Review
- Quality assessment of Japanese clinical practice guidelines including recommendations for acupuncture.Integrative medicine research · 2022Article
- Integrative oncology: Addressing the global challenges of cancer prevention and treatment.CA: a cancer journal for clinicians · 2022Review
- Patients' perceptions on non-specific effects of acupuncture: Qualitative comparison between responders and non-responders.Integrative medicine research · 2022Article
- Effect of Acupuncture on Delayed Emesis for the Patients Who Received High-Emetogenic Chemotherapy with Standard Antiemetic Prophylaxis (KHMC-HO-01): An Open-Label, Randomized Study.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2022Article
- Acupuncture Based on Regulating Autonomic Nerves for the Prevention of Migraine without Aura: A Prospective, Double-Dummy, Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial [Letter].Journal of pain research · 2022Article
- Article
- Effect of Acupuncture on Movement Function in Patients with Parkinson's Disease: Network Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Overcoming Barriers for Clinical Research of Acupuncture.Medical acupuncture · 2020Review
- Taping for conditions of the musculoskeletal system: an evidence map review.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2020Review
- Evaluating the Characteristics, Reporting and Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews of Acupuncture for Low Back Pain by Using the Veritas Plot.Journal of pain research · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objectives: To establish whether sham acupuncture (SA) or placebo acupuncture (PA) is more efficacious for reducing low back pain (LBP) than other routine treatments and to discuss whether SA or PA is appropriate for randomized controlled trials of acupuncture for LBP. Methods: Six databases were searched on 31 May 2017. We included only randomized controlled trials of adults with LBP and lower back myofascial pain syndrome. The studies had at least two control arms: a sham-controlled acupuncture arm and a routine care or waiting list arm (people who did not receive acupuncture until the end of treatment). Trials were combined using meta-analysis methods when the data allowed statistical pooling. Pooled effect sizes were calculated by random effects models. Results: This review identified 7 trials (1768 participants); all were included in the meta-analysis. We found statistically significant differences in pain reduction post-intervention between SA or PA and routine care or a waiting list, with a standardized mean difference of -0.36 (95% CI -0.54 to -0.18; Conclusion: Compared with routine care or a waiting list, SA or PA was more efficacious for pain relief post-intervention. Concluding that SA or PA is appropriate for acupuncture research would be premature. Guidelines evaluating SA or PA control methods are needed to determine the specific effect of acupuncture over placebo.
Indexed as
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.