ReviewFrontiers in molecular neuroscience2024
Acupuncture for radicular pain: a review of analgesic mechanism.
Review in Frontiers in molecular neuroscience, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Application of auricular therapy in postherpetic neuralgia: a scoping review.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2026Pooled it
- The Effect of Comprehensive and Integrative Medical Services on Patients with Degenerative Lumbar Spinal Stenosis: A Randomized Controlled Study.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Trial
- Prognostic Factors and Treatment Effect Modifiers for Acupuncture Response in Patients with Neurogenic Claudication of Degenerative Lumbar Spinal Stenosis: Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of pain research · 2026Trial
- Acupuncture Improves Functional Limitations for Cancer Patients with Chronic Pain: A Secondary Analysis of PEACE Randomized Clinical Trial.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2025Trial
- Article
- Acupuncture for postoperative rehabilitation in degenerative lumbar spinal diseases: mechanisms and clinical evidence.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2026Review
- Data Mining-Based Analysis of Acupoint Selection Patterns in Acupuncture Treatment for Lumbar Disc Herniation.Journal of pain research · 2026Review
- 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
- Protocol for the real-world evidence of acupuncture for chronic neck pain in the elderly: an observational multi-centre cohort study.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Effect of Korean medicine treatment on surgery and opioid prescription among patients with lumbar spinal stenosis: a nationwide retrospective cohort study.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Efficacy of Governor Vessel-Based Acupuncture, Alone or in Combination with Other Therapies, for Acute Lumbar Disc Herniation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of pain research · 2026Review
- Multistage acupuncture intervention perioperatively: a clinical optimization plan based on the ERAS concept.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Benefit of electroacupuncture for pulmonary infections in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder: a retrospective study.American journal of translational research · 2025Article
- Electroacupuncture alleviates neuropathic pain in a rat model of CCD via suppressing P2X3 expression in dorsal root ganglia.Chinese medicine · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Radicular pain, a common and complex form of neuropathic pain, presents significant challenges in treatment. Acupuncture, a therapy originating from ancient traditional Chinese medicine and widely utilized for various pain types, including radicular pain, has shown promising outcomes in the management of lumbar radicular pain, cervical radicular pain, and radicular pain due to spinal stenosis. Despite its efficacy, the exact mechanisms through which acupuncture achieves analgesia are not fully elucidated and are the subject of ongoing research. This review sheds light on the current understanding of the analgesic mechanisms of acupuncture for radicular pain, offering valuable perspectives for both clinical application and basic scientific research. Acupuncture is postulated to relieve radicular pain by several mechanisms: peripherally, it reduces muscle spasms, lessens mechanical pressure on nerve roots, and improves microcirculation; at the molecular level, it inhibits the HMGB1/RAGE and TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathways, thereby decreasing the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines; within the spinal cord, it influences synaptic plasticity; and centrally, it modulates brain function, particularly affecting the medial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and thalamus within the default mode network. By acting across these diverse biological domains, acupuncture presents an effective treatment modality for radicular pain, and deepening our understanding of the underlying mechanisms regarding analgesia for radicular pain is crucial for enhancing its clinical efficacy and advancement in pain management.
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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.