ArticleMedicine2020
Acupuncture for lumbar disc herniation: Protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Article in Medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of chronic sciatica from herniated disks: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Clinical efficacy and quality of life in elderly patients with lumbar degenerative disease treated with TLIF combined with unilateral pedicle screw fixation: a randomized controlled study.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2025Trial
- Unilateral uniportal endoscopy with unilateral fixation for lumbar degenerative diseases: A retrospective observational study and technical note.The Journal of international medical research · 2026Observational
- Efficacy of acupuncture for lumbar disc herniation: changes in paravertebral muscle and fat infiltration - a multicenter retrospective cohort study.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2024Article
- Comparative clinical efficacy of acupuncture combined with manipulation and other non-pharmacological interventions in the treatment of lumbar disc herniation: a prospective, multi-arm, randomized, open-label, blinded endpoint trial.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Article
- The effects of acupuncture combined with western medicine in the treatment of neck, shoulder, lumbar and leg pain.American journal of translational research · 2023Article
- Long-Term Follow-Up of Intensive Integrative Treatment including Motion Style Acupuncture Treatment (MSAT) in Hospitalized Patients with Lumbar Disc Herniation: An Observational Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Percutaneous transforaminal endoscopic discectomy is a safer approach for lumbar disc herniation.American journal of translational research · 2022Article
- Yaobishu Regulates Inflammatory, Metabolic, Autophagic, and Apoptosis Pathways to Attenuate Lumbar Disc Herniation.Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity · 2022Article
- Effect evaluation of acupuncture combined with nerve block treatment on patients with lumbar spondylolisthesis.International journal of burns and trauma · 2021Article
- Knowledge Mapping Analysis of International Research on Acupuncture for Low Back Pain Using Bibliometrics.Journal of pain research · 2021Article
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 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAs development of society and change of modern life style, the prevalence of lumbar disc herniation (LDH) has been increasing. Being a major cause of low back pain, sciatica and radicular leg pain, LDH imposes a heavy burden on both individual and society. Because of high surgically intervene rate, non-invasive (non-surgical) treatments are recommended for most cases. Acupuncture has the advantages of low risk, good effect and low cost which has been proven that could alleviate pain while physical therapy plays a major role in the treatment of LDH in the vast majority of countries. The aim of this systematic review is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for LDH.
methodsRCTs on ACU treating LDH will be searched from the following databases: PubMed, Web of science, EmBase, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang data, from their inception to May 2020. The primary outcomes are verbal rating scale and functional disability. Two reviewers will independently exclude substandard articles and extract eligible data. The risk of bias will be assessed using the Cochrane Handbook 5.1.0 for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. Egger test will be used to assess the reporting bias. Heterogeneity will be evaluated by the I statistic and Q test. We will conduct the meta-analysis using Stata V12.0 to evaluate the effectiveness of ACU for LDH. In case of high heterogeneity, sensitivity analysis of different items and subgroup analysis will be performed. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation System will be used to assess the quality of evidence.
resultsThe results of this review will be submitted to a journal for publication.
conclusionThis proposed systematic review will evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for LDH. REGISTRATION: PROSPERO (registration number CRD42019148272).
Indexed as
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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.