SynthesisFrontiers in neuroscience2022
Coordinate-based (ALE) meta-analysis of acupuncture for musculoskeletal pain.
Synthesis in Frontiers in neuroscience, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 4 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
15 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Connectomic Mapping of Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: Neural Circuitries Identified Through a Systematic Review and ALE Meta-Analysis.Neural plasticity · 2026Pooled it
- Comparison of resting-state brain activity between insomnia and generalized anxiety disorder: A coordinate-based meta-analysis.Brain imaging and behavior · 2025Pooled it
- Immediate and long-term brain activation of acupuncture on ischemic stroke patients: an ALE meta-analysis of fMRI studies.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2024Pooled it
- A coordinate-based meta-analysis of acupuncture for chronic pain: Evidence from fMRI studies.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Pooled it
- Effect of acupuncture treatment for patients with knee osteoarthritis on brain fluctuation amplitude and functional connectivity: a randomized three-armed fMRI study.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2025Trial
- Neuroimaging biomarkers for predicting acupuncture treatment response in chronic pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis protocol.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Anatomy changes, signalling pathways, and clinical treatment after ankle sprain.Bone & joint research · 2026Article
- Brain sensory network activity underlies reduced nociceptive initiated and nociplastic pain via acupuncture in fibromyalgia.Communications medicine · 2026Article
- Functional connectivity changes in the thalamocortical network due to neck pain and the multiscale regulatory effects of acupuncture: a cross-scale multi-omics neuroimaging study.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Article
- Brain Sensory Network Activity Underlies Reduced Nociceptive-Initiated and Nociplastic Pain via Acupuncture in Fibromyalgia.Research square · 2025Article
- Shallow Acupuncture for Chronic Neck Pain: A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial Protocol with fMRI and DTI.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
- Pathology of pain and its implications for therapeutic interventions.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2024Review
- Acupuncture use for pain after traumatic brain injury: a NIDILRR Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems cohort study.Brain injury · 2023Article
- Can Acupuncture Improve the Flexibility of Hamstring Muscles? A Randomized, Blinded, and Controlled Pilot Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Effectiveness and Safety of Acupuncture-Related Therapies for Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: A Protocol for Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis.Journal of pain research · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Neuroimaging studies have been widely used to investigate brain regions' alterations in musculoskeletal pain patients. However, inconsistent results have hindered our understanding of the central modulatory effects of acupuncture for musculoskeletal pain. The main objective of our investigation has been to obtain comprehensive evidence of acupuncture for musculoskeletal pain diseases. Methods: The PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), VIP Database, China Biology Medicine disc Database, Clinical Trial Registration Platform, and Wanfang Database were searched for neuroimaging studies on musculoskeletal pain diseases published from inception up to November 2021. Then, the relevant literature was screened to extract the coordinates that meet the criteria. Finally, the coordinate-based meta-analysis was performed using the activation likelihood estimation algorithm. Results: A total of 15 neuroimaging studies with 183 foci of activation were included in this study. The ALE meta-analysis revealed activated clusters in multiple cortical and sub-cortical brain structures in response to acupuncture across studies, including the thalamus, insula, caudate, claustrum, and lentiform nucleus. Conclusions: The studies showed that acupuncture could modulate different brain regions, including the thalamus, insula, caudate, claustrum, and lentiform nucleus. The findings offer several insights into the potential mechanisms of acupuncture for musculoskeletal pain and provide a possible explanation for the observed clinical benefit of this therapy. Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=227850, identifier: CRD42021227850.
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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.