ArticleBMC veterinary research2020
Evaluation of acupuncture for the treatment of pain associated with naturally-occurring osteoarthritis in dogs: a prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled, blinded clinical trial.
Article in BMC veterinary research, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 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
12 citing papers in PubMed, 100 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evaluation of intra-articular injection of collagen-elastin hydrogel microparticles for managing osteoarthritis-associated elbow pain in dogs: a double-blind, positive-controlled clinical trial.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2026Trial
- Molecular and Immunohistochemical Analyses of PLIN4 in the Spinal Cord and Brain During the Development of Electroacupuncture-Induced Analgesic Tolerance in Mice.Veterinary medicine and science · 2026Article
- Six decades of animal accelerometry: trends, applications, and future directions.Movement ecology · 2026Review
- Beyond Osteoarthritis: Emerging Applications of Anti-NGF Monoclonal Antibodies in Pain Management in Dogs and Cats.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Review
- Laser Acupuncture Effects on Chronic Pain, Inflammatory Response, and Biochemical and Oxidative Stress Markers in Osteoarthritic Dogs: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Evaluation of the effect of cannabidiol administration with and without nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in dogs with mobility disorders: a prospective, double-blind, crossover, placebo-controlled study.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2024Article
- Effects of low-level laser therapy on impaired mobility in dogs with naturally occurring osteoarthritis.Veterinary medicine and science · 2023Article
- Intra-Articular Injections of Allogeneic Mesenchymal Stromal Cells vs. High Molecular Weight Hyaluronic Acid in Dogs With Osteoarthritis: Exploratory Data From a Double-Blind, Randomized, Prospective Clinical Trial.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2022Article
- Proposed Canadian Consensus Guidelines on Osteoarthritis Treatment Based on OA-COAST Stages 1-4.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2022Review
- Chronic Pain in Dogs and Cats: Is There Place for Dietary Intervention with Micro-Palmitoylethanolamide?Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2021Review
- Assessing the efficacy of acupuncture as the sole analgesic for canine chronic pain.Veterinary evidenceReview
- In dogs with thoracolumbar disc extrusion does the use of acupuncture improve clinical recovery?Veterinary evidenceReview
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 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAcupuncture has been used as a treatment for pain associated with osteoarthritis (OA) for thousands of years; however, there is a lack of definitive evidence for this indication in humans or animals. The aim of this study was to prospectively evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture on lameness and clinical function in dogs affected by naturally-occurring OA using objective outcome measures. A total of 32 client-owned dogs completed this prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled, blinded clinical trial, using a cross-over design. Participants were assigned to receive placebo or acupuncture treatment once weekly for 4 weeks in random order with a two-week wash-out period in between treatment phases. Outcome measures included ground reaction forces (GRF), subjective orthopedic scoring (SOS), activity counts (AC), and owner-completed clinical metrology instruments (CMI; Canine Brief Pain Inventory [CBPI] and Client Specific Outcome Measures [CSOM]). For statistical comparison, baseline GRF, SOS, and CMI data were compared to data obtained 1 week after each treatment phase. Similarly, total weekly AC of the final week of each treatment phase were compared to the baseline week.
resultsEvidence of differences between baseline versus acupuncture and placebo treatments was not identified for the following outcome measures: GRF, AC, or SOS. However, evidence of differences was identified for some of the CMI scores, including the CSOM questionnaire which showed evidence of improvement when comparing baseline versus acupuncture (p = 0.0002) as well as between placebo versus acupuncture treatments (p = 0.035) but not between baseline versus placebo treatments (p = 0.221).
conclusionsThe applied acupuncture protocol did not show improvement in function when using objective outcome measures for OA in dogs; however, certain CMI measurements recorded some degree of treatment response.
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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.