ArticleNeural plasticity2020
Imagined and Actual Acupuncture Effects on Chronic Low Back Pain: A Preliminary Study.
Article in Neural plasticity, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07197710 (Assessing the Efficacy of Imagined Acupuncture for Postoperative Acute Pain Management in Spinal Surgery), which is not on this map. Cited by 10 papers.
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.
Assessing the Efficacy of Imagined Acupuncture for Postoperative Acute Pain Management in Spinal Surgery
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Both Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation and Great Auricular Nerve Stimulation Modulate Functional and Structural Connectivity of Brainstem Nuclei in Chronic Low Back Pain.Neuromodulation : journal of the International Neuromodulation Society · 2026Trial
- Transcutaneous auricular nerve stimulation modulates the functional connectivity of the descending pain modulation system and reward network in patients with chronic low back pain.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2025Trial
- Article
- Novel avatar-based video-guided acupuncture imagery treatment for chronic low back pain: a randomised controlled trial in the USA.EClinicalMedicine · 2025Article
- Beyond Needling: Integrating a Bayesian Brain Model into Acupuncture Treatment.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Modulation effects of imagery acupuncture and no-touch double-blinded placebo acupuncture, a cross-over pilot study.Brain behavior and immunity integrative · 2024Article
- Thalamocortical Mechanisms Underlying Real and Imagined Acupuncture.Biomedicines · 2023Article
- The role of visual expectations in acupuncture analgesia: A quantitative electroencephalography study.Molecular pain · 2022Article
- Acupuncture as Part of Multimodal Analgesia for Chronic Pain.Orthopedic reviews · 2022Article
- Applying the Power of the Mind in Acupuncture Treatment of Pain.Medical acupuncture · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Background: Research suggests that imagined experiences can produce brain responses similar to those produced by actual experiences. Shared brain responses that support both imagination and perception may underlie the functional nature of mental imagery. In a previous study, we combined acupuncture and imagery to develop a new treatment method, video-guided acupuncture imagery treatment (VGAIT). We found that VGAIT significantly increased pain thresholds in healthy subjects. The aim of this study is to extend our previous finding by investigating whether VGAIT can relieve symptoms in patients with chronic low back pain. Methods: We first performed a single-arm study in which we administered video-guided acupuncture imagery treatment (VGAIT) on patients with chronic low back pain (cLBP) (Study 1, Results: All three treatments (VGAIT, real, and sham acupuncture) significantly reduced pain severity as measured by a low back pain bothersomeness score. VGAIT produced similar effects to real acupuncture ( Conclusion: These findings support VGAIT as a promising method for pain management.
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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.