Trial reportNeural plasticity2020
Different Degree Centrality Changes in the Brain after Acupuncture on Contralateral or Ipsilateral Acupoint in Patients with Chronic Shoulder Pain: A Resting-State fMRI Study.
Trial report in Neural plasticity, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- Functional brain alterations associated with acupuncture for chronic pain: a scoping review of fMRI studies.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Pooled it
- Combinations of scalp acupuncture location for the treatment of post-stroke hemiparesis: A systematic review andFrontiers in neuroscience · 2022Pooled it
- A meta-analysis of neuroimaging evidence for acupuncture-mediated modulation of altered central pain processing in patients with chronic pain.Frontiers in neurologyPooled it
- Multi-Spatial Voxel-Scale Modulation of Acupuncture on Abnormal Brain Activity in Migraine Patients Without Aura: A Randomized Study Neuroimaging Trial.Brain and behavior · 2025Trial
- Observation of the efficacy of acupuncture in promoting recovery after hip fracture surgery: a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2025Article
- Acupuncture's Multisystem Neuroimmunomodulation: Central-Peripheral Interactions in Gastroenteric, Psychiatric, and Chronic Pain Disorders.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2025Review
- Altered voxel-wise degree centrality of brain networks in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis: a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study.Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery · 2025Article
- Effect of Contralateral Acupuncture (Geoja Technique) in Musculoskeletal Disorders Stratified by Pulse Strength Differences: A Retrospective Study.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
- Acupuncture at Sensitized Acupoints versus Sham Acupuncture for Neck-Type Cervical Spondylosis: Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
- Immediate Analgesic Efficacy of Acupuncture in Acute Postoperative Pain Following Internal Fixation of Intertrochanteric Femoral Fractures: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
- Contralateral acupuncture for migraine without aura: a randomized trial protocol with multimodal MRI.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2024Article
- Article
- Electro-Acupuncture Effects Measured by Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging-A Systematic Review of Randomized Clinical Trials.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Article
- Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging reveals brain remodeling after Tuina therapy in neuropathic pain model.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2023Article
- Research Trends on Acupuncture for Shoulder Pain Treatment Over the Past 15 Years: A Bibliometric Analysis.Journal of pain research · 2023Review
- Altered functional connectivity strength in chronic insomnia associated with gut microbiota composition and sleep efficiency.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- The CX-DZ-II intelligent electronic stimulator for neck pain caused by cervical spondylosis: A two-center, randomized, controlled, and non-inferiority trial.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Article
- Real-Time fMRI Neurofeedback Training Changes Brain Degree Centrality and Improves Sleep in Chronic Insomnia Disorder: A Resting-State fMRI Study.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2022Article
- Acupuncture modulates extracellular ATP levels in peripheral sensory nervous system during analgesia of ankle arthritis in rats.Purinergic signalling · 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
11 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Chronic shoulder pain (CSP) is the third most common musculoskeletal problem. For maximum treatment effectiveness, most acupuncturists usually choose acupoint in the nonpainful side, to alleviate pain or improve shoulder function. This method is named opposite needling, which means acupuncture points on the right side are selected for diseases on the left side and vice versa. However, the underlying neural mechanisms related to treatment are currently unclear. The purpose of this study was to determine whether different mechanisms were observed with contralateral and ipsilateral acupuncture at Tiaokou (ST 38) in patients with unilateral CSP. Twenty-four patients were randomized to the contralateral acupuncture group (contra-group) and the ipsilateral acupuncture group (ipsi-group). The patients received one acupuncture treatment session at ST 38 on the nonpainful or painful sides, respectively. Before and after acupuncture treatment, they underwent functional magnetic resonance scanning. The treatment-related changes in degree centrality (DC) maps were compared between the two groups. We found alleviated pain and improved shoulder function in both groups, but better shoulder functional improvement was observed in the contra-group. Increased DC in the anterior/paracingulate cortex and decreased DC in bilateral postcentral gyri were found in the contra-group, while decreased DC in the bilateral cerebellum and right thalamus was observed in the ipsi-group. Furthermore, the DC value in the bilateral anterior/paracingulate cortex was positively correlated with the treatment-related change in the Constant-Murley score. The current study reveals different changes of DC patterns after acupuncture at contralateral or ipsilateral ST 38 in patients with CSP. Our findings support the hypothesis of acupoint specificity and provide the evidence for acupuncturists to select acupoints for CSP.
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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.