ReviewEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2018
Efficacy Comparison of Five Different Acupuncture Methods on Pain, Stiffness, and Function in Osteoarthritis of the Knee: A Network Meta-Analysis.
Review in Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 18 papers, 2 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
18 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparative effectiveness of acupuncture in sham-controlled trials for knee osteoarthritis: A systematic review and network meta-analysis.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Acupuncture for the Relief of Chronic Pain: A Synthesis of Systematic Reviews.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2019Pooled it
- Bridging Evidence Synthesis and Clinical Relevance in Blood-Letting Therapy for Knee Osteoarthritis: Methodological Reflections on a Meta-Analysis [Letter].Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- Effectiveness of Combination of Thunder Fire Moxibustion with Other Forms of Traditional Chinese Medicine for Osteoarthritis Knee: A Meta-Analysis.Journal of pain research · 2025Review
- The Knee-SCHOOL: a brief patient-centered multidisciplinary educational program for knee osteoarthritis.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Article
- Review
- Electroacupuncture activated local sympathetic noradrenergic signaling to relieve synovitis and referred pain behaviors in knee osteoarthritis rats.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2023Article
- Understandings of acupuncture application and mechanisms.American journal of translational research · 2022Review
- Thermal Properties of Warm- versus Heated-Needle Acupuncture.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2022Article
- Effective Oriental Magic for Analgesia: Acupuncture.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2022Review
- The Effectiveness Comparison of Different Acupuncture-Related Therapies on Knee Osteoarthritis: A Meta-Analysis.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2022Article
- Case report: Electroacupuncture for acute pain flare-up of knee osteoarthritis.Frontiers in neurology · 2022Article
- Effectiveness and Safety of Acupuncture-Related Therapies for Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: A Protocol for Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis.Journal of pain research · 2022Article
- Efficacy of Acupuncture-Related Therapy in the Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis: A Network Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Journal of pain research · 2021Review
- The Quality of Methodological and Reporting in Network Meta-Analysis of Acupuncture and Moxibustion: A Cross-Sectional Survey.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2021Review
- Electroacupuncture Prevents Osteoarthritis of High-Fat Diet-Induced Obese Rats.BioMed research international · 2020Article
- The Effect of Electroacupuncture on Dynamic Balance during Stair Climbing for Elderly Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2020Article
- Corrigendum to "Efficacy Comparison of Five Different Acupuncture Methods on Pain, Stiffness, and Function in Osteoarthritis of the Knee: A Network Meta-Analysis".Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAMArticle
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The principal objective of this present study was to compare the effects of different acupuncture methods on pain, stiffness, and physical function for osteoarthritis of the knee by the pairwise and network meta-analysis (NMA). A network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was searched from three English databases and one Chinese database until January 2018. A pairwise meta-analysis was performed with a random effects model. Then we carried out the NMA within a Bayesian framework. Mean difference (MD) and its 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated by R 3.4.1, Stata 14.0, and RevMan 5.3 software to assess the relief of pain, the effectiveness for stiffness, and physical function recovery. Node-splitting method was used to calculate the inconsistency. Rank probabilities were assessed and clustered by the surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA). 16 trials mostly researched short-term effectiveness and showed that fire needle and electro-acupuncture were statistically significant to decrease WOMAC pain and physical function scores when compared with other treatments, but there was no significant difference in stiffness calculations. Our NMA demonstrated that acupuncture with heat pain or electrical stimulation might be suggested as the better choices in all acupuncture methods to osteoarthritis of the knee.
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.