ReviewEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2019
Understanding Acupoint Sensitization: A Narrative Review on Phenomena, Potential Mechanism, and Clinical Application.
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 31 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Acupoint Sensitivity in Health and Disease: A Systematic Review.Journal of integrative and complementary medicine · 2024Pooled it
- The effectiveness of acupuncture point stimulation for the prevention of postoperative sore throat: A meta-analysis.Medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Skin Temperature of Acupoints in Health and Disease: A Systematic Review.Journal of integrative and complementary medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Moxibustion for treating cancer-related fatigue: A multicenter, assessor-blinded, randomized controlled clinical trial.Cancer medicine · 2021Trial
- Neuroregulatory mechanism of heat-sensitive moxibustion on the Dubi acupoint (ST 35) in patients with knee osteoarthritis: a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study.Frontiers in neurologyTrial
- Therapeutic mechanisms of acupuncture therapy for acute pain in the emergency department.Integrative medicine research · 2026Review
- Plasma-derived exosomal miR-144-3p targeting IL-1β is involved in pressure pain threshold regulation at PC6 acupoint in myocardial ischemia rats.Journal of traditional and complementary medicine · 2026Article
- Proteomics and Metabolomics-Based Investigation of Local Microenvironmental Changes in Sensitized Acupoint Compared to Non-Sensitized Point Among Patients with Chronic Atrophic Gastritis: A Cross-Sectional Study Protocol.Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- Clinical efficacy and putative analgesic mechanism of heat-sensitive moxibustion for chronic nonspecific low back pain: a single-arm before-after study based on the brain-gut-immune axis.Frontiers in integrative neuroscience · 2026Article
- Keratinocyte Piezo1 and CD39 initiated the acupuncture analgesic signals via Co-regulating extracellular ATP mobilization at acupoints.Journal of traditional and complementary medicine · 2025Article
- CD39 activities in the treated acupoints contributed to the analgesic mechanism of acupuncture on arthritis rats.Purinergic signalling · 2025Article
- IDEAL-Acu: A Methodological Framework for Evaluating the Effects of Acupuncture.Journal of evidence-based medicine · 2025Article
- Inflammatory pain and electroacupuncture: how the P2X3 receptor can help modulate inflammation-a review of current literature.Inflammation research : official journal of the European Histamine Research Society ... [et al.] · 2025Review
- Exploratory Study of Biomechanical Properties and Pain Sensitivity at Back-Shu Points.Brain sciences · 2024Article
- Deep electroacupuncture of neurogenic spots attenuates immobilization stress-induced acute hypertension in rats.Integrative medicine research · 2024Article
- Visualization of Microcirculation at Acupoints in vivo of Alzheimer's Disease Animal Model with Photoacoustic Microscope: A Pilot Study.Journal of Alzheimer's disease reports · 2024Article
- Effects of acupuncture on functional gastrointestinal disorders: special effects, coeffects, synergistic effects in terms of single or compatible acupoints.Journal of traditional Chinese medicine = Chung i tsa chih ying wen pan · 2023Review
- The real-time detection of acupuncture-induced extracellular ATP mobilization in acupoints and exploration of its role in acupuncture analgesia.Purinergic signalling · 2023Article
- Skin Temperature of Acupoints in Health and Primary Dysmenorrhea Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of pain research · 2023Review
- Efficacy of acupuncture in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease and its impact on gut microbiota: Study protocol for a randomized sham-controlled trial.Frontiers in medicine · 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
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
As part of traditional Chinese medicine, acupoints are considered a dynamic functional area, which can reflect the internal condition of the body. When the body is suffering from disease or injury, corresponding acupoints are believed to be activated and manifest in several sensitized forms, including expansion of the receptive field, pain sensitization, and heat sensitization. Such phenomena are believed to gradually disappear concomitantly with recovery from the disease. Acupoint states are therefore changeable according to health status, a phenomenon known as acupoint sensitization. This review aims to provide an overview of acupoint sensitization based on existing research results and determine priorities for future research. Systematic literature retrieval was conducted in Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, and AMED from inception to 18 July 2018. Current evidence from research findings to date indicate that acupoint sensitization is based on neurogenic inflammation and that stimulation of sensitized acupoints presents a potential trend of generating a better clinical effect when compared with stimulation of unsensitized points.
Identifiers
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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.