ReviewEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2019
What Is the Appropriate Acupuncture Treatment Schedule for Chronic Pain? Review and Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.
Review in Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 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
8 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparison of clinical efficacy of different acupuncture methods in the treatment of fibromyalgia: a network meta-analysis based on randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in neurology · 2026Pooled it
- Efficacy of acupuncture therapy plus related rehabilitation therapy for post-stroke urinary incontinence: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Pooled it
- Short-term effects of two deep dry needling techniques on pressure pain thresholds and electromyographic amplitude of the lumbosacral multifidus in patients with low back pain - a randomized clinical trial.The Journal of manual & manipulative therapy · 2020Trial
- Therapeutic mechanisms of acupuncture therapy for acute pain in the emergency department.Integrative medicine research · 2026Review
- Investigating the Analgesic Mechanisms of Acupuncture for Cancer Pain: Insights From Multimodal Bioelectrical Signal Analysis.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
- Acupuncture Relieves Opioid-Induced Constipation in Clinical Cancer Therapy - A Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review.Clinical epidemiology · 2021Review
- Occipital Neuralgia Treated With Acupuncture: A Case Report.Global advances in health and medicine · 2019Article
- Classic Chinese Acupuncture versus Different Types of Control Groups for the Treatment of Chronic Pain: Review of Randomized Controlled Trials (2000-2018).Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2019Review
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 at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAcupuncture is widely used for the treatment of chronic pain. Different protocols of acupuncture practice exist and lack agreement on the optimal schedule of acupuncture treatment.
objectiveTo review the appropriate acupuncture treatment schedule for chronic pain.
methodsEmbase, Pubmed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and reference lists were searched from 2009 to 2018 to identify randomized controlled trials of acupuncture for chronic pain conditions. We collected factors of treatment schedule (D, duration of each treatment session; N, number of treatment sessions; T, total duration of treatment in weeks) from each of the trials, and the linear regression analysis with real pain relief rate (both treatment and follow-up) was performed. Furthermore, we recommend the concept of "DOSE" and frequency (F) to evaluate the dose and frequency effect of acupuncture.
resultsTwenty-four trials with a total number of 3461 patients met the inclusion criteria. Of these, data from 23 studies were available for analysis. Firstly, the results showed that follow-up pain relief rate was decreased slightly with the increase of the duration of each session and DOSE (r=-0.3414 and r=-0.3246, respectively), but those two factors had no correlation with the pain relief rate after treatment. Secondly, it showed that either lower frequency with 2 sessions/week and higher frequency greater than 2 sessions/week or DOSE of 30 mins/week can achieve higher pain relief rate after treatment. Thirdly, we found the rate of pain relief remained at a high level greater than 20% up to 18 weeks after the treatment, and then it dropped sharply below 10% with the follow-up extended. A positive relationship was found between study score and pain relief both in treatment and follow-up (r=0.4654 and r=0.3046, respectively).
conclusionsThe effect of acupuncture varies greatly with the different schedules of acupuncture, so it is necessary to review and choose the appropriate schedule. Although the current work is based on a limited number of trials, the findings suggest that acupuncture has a dose and frequency effect presenting within a certain range, which would have considerable implications for the design and interpretation of clinical trials. More high-quality randomized controlled trials on acupuncture schedule research were needed for providing more definitive evidence.
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.