ArticleJournal of pain research2020
Acupotomy versus Manual Acupuncture for the Treatment of Back and/or Leg Pain in Patients with Lumbar Disc Herniation: A Multicenter, Randomized, Controlled, Assessor-Blinded Clinical Trial.
Article in Journal of pain research, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 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
15 citing papers in PubMed, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Feasibility, Safety, and Effectiveness of Ultrasound-Guided Acupotomy Treatment for Degenerative Lumbar Spinal Stenosis: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of pain research · 2026Trial
- Cost-utility analysis of acupotomy combined with epidural steroid injection for lumbosacral radiculopathy: analysis of randomized controlled trial.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2025Trial
- Acupuncture alleviates the progression of lumbar disc herniation by regulating the autophagy level of nucleus pulposus cells through the SIRT1/Sestrin2 pathway.Histology and histopathology · 2026Article
- Nucleus Pulposus Resorption Following a Paraspinal Hook-Needle Intervention for Lumbar Disc Herniation: A Case Report.Clinical case reports · 2026Article
- Effectiveness, Safety, and Economic Evaluation of Ultrasound-Guided Acupotomy for Degenerative Lumbar Spinal Stenosis Compared with Conventional Physical Therapy: A Randomized Controlled Trial Protocol.Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- Intraspinal versus Extraspinal Acupotomy Decompression, or Their Combination, for Lumbar Disc Herniation: Protocol for a Three-Arm, Randomized, Single-Blind Controlled Trial.Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- Diversity and Safety of Acupotomy Treatments for Lumbar Spine Disorders in South Korea: A Review of Clinical Studies.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Acupotomy for Military Training-Induced Lumbar Radiculopathy with Sciatica: Protocol of a Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
- Acupotomy for Musculoskeletal Pain: Exploring Therapeutic Potential and Future Directions.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
- Efficacy of acupuncture for lumbar disc herniation: changes in paravertebral muscle and fat infiltration - a multicenter retrospective cohort study.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2024Article
- Effectiveness and Safety of Acupotomy Treatment on Shoulder Pain: 25 Multicenter Retrospective Study.Journal of pain research · 2023Article
- Effects of Acupuncture and Moxibustion Combined with Needle-Knife on Pain and Lumbar Function in Patients with Lumbar Disc Herniation.Journal of healthcare engineering · 2022Article
- Effectiveness and safety of acupotomy for knee osteoarthritis: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.Trials · 2021Article
- Needling Interventions for Sciatica: Choosing Methods Based on Neuropathic Pain Mechanisms-A Scoping Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2021Article
- Acupuncture for gouty arthritis: A PRISMA-compliant protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Medicine · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAcupotomy, which involves the addition of a scalpel function to the conventional acupuncture treatment, has recently been applied as a conservative treatment method for lumbar disc herniation (LDH). This study investigated the effectiveness and safety of acupotomy, compared to manual acupuncture, for the treatment of patients with LDH.
methodsA total of 146 patients diagnosed with LDH were randomly assigned to either the acupotomy group or the manual acupuncture group at a 1:1 ratio. Participants in both groups received four sessions of each intervention over 2 weeks. Outcome assessments based on the visual analog scale (VAS), Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ), Modified-Modified Schober Test (MMST), EuroQol Five Dimensions (EQ-5D), clinically important difference (CID), and patient global impression of change (PGIC) were conducted at baseline and at 2, 4, and 6 weeks post-randomization.
resultsThe acupotomy group showed significant improvement in VAS and MMST at 2, 4, and 6 weeks than did the manual acupuncture group. RMDQ was significantly different between the two groups at 2 and 6 weeks. In EQ-5D, there was no significant difference between the two groups. The proportion of patients with ≥15 mm decrease on the VAS (minimal CID) was significantly higher in the acupotomy group at weeks 2 and 4. Better improvement in the PGIC at week 4 was also observed in the acupotomy group. Post-intervention muscle pain was reported, but there was no serious adverse event related to interventions.
conclusionIn this study, four sessions of acupotomy treatment were found to be effective in improving the pain intensity and range of motion of the lumbar region in patients with LDH. Despite post-treatment muscle pain, acupotomy treatment can be considered a preferred treatment method over manual acupuncture.
trial registrationThis trial has been registered 24 April 2018 in Clinical Research Information Service of South Korea (CRIS-KCT0002824).
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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.