ArticleEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2018
Therapeutic Effect of Superficial Acupuncture in Treating Myofascial Pain of the Upper Trapezius Muscle: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Article 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. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Rate and maintenance of improvement of myofascial pain with dry needling alone vs. dry needling with intramuscular electrical stimulation: a randomized controlled trial.The Journal of manual & manipulative therapy · 2021Trial
- Comment on Efficacy of Acupuncture Treatment in the Treatment of Female Myofascial Pelvic Pain Syndrome: A Protocol for a Dual-Center Randomized Controlled Trial [Response to Letter].Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- Efficacy of chronic neck pain self-treatment using press needles: a randomized controlled clinical trial.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The aim of this study was to compare the treatment efficacies of superficial acupuncture and traditional acupuncture on trigger points of the upper trapezius muscle. Forty people were recruited and randomly allocated to the traditional and superficial acupuncture groups. Each subject received two treatments per week in a four-week period. Outcomes were measured by visual analogue scale (VAS), the Northwick Park neck pain questionnaire scores (NPQ), and pressure pain threshold (PPT) assessments of trigger points. Data collected before the interventions were considered as baseline. Assessments were performed after the first treatment and at the end of the second and fourth weeks of treatment. Patients reported significant (p<0.05) and immediate improvements in VAS and PPT for both superficial acupuncture and traditional acupuncture after the first treatment and after two and four weeks. Significant improvements (p<0.05) in NPQ were attained after two weeks of treatments in both groups. Because superficial acupuncture is associated with less pain while producing immediate pain relief, we recommend it for treating myofascial pain syndrome in the upper trapezius muscle.
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.