Trial reportOsteoarthritis and cartilage open2025
Safety and preliminary efficacy of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation on chronic knee pain: A pilot trial.
Trial report in Osteoarthritis and cartilage open, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05625178 (Investigating Effects of Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation on Central Pain Mechanisms, Autonomic Function, and Pain Severity in People With Knee Osteoarthritis), which is not on this map. Cited by 10 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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.
Investigating Effects of Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation on Central Pain Mechanisms, Autonomic Function, and Pain Severity in People With Knee Osteoarthritis
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Noninvasive electrical stimulation on pain and function in knee osteoarthritis in middle-aged and older adults: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Current status and research gaps of neuromodulation in the rehabilitation of knee osteoarthritis: a scoping review.Frontiers in neurologyPooled it
- Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation and Pectoral-Intercostal Fascial Block for the Prevention of Chronic Postsurgical Pain in Elderly Patients Undergoing Off-Pump Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting: A 2×2 Factorial, Double-Blinded, Randomized Clinical Trial.Clinical interventions in aging · 2026Trial
- Feasibility and Safety of a Single-Session of Transcutaneous Cervical Magnetic Stimulation, taVNS, and iTBS on Heart Rate Variability, Safety, and Pain Modulation.The European journal of neuroscience · 2025Trial
- Vagus nerve stimulation in rheumatic diseases: linking autonomic nervous system regulation, inflammation, and clinical outcomes.Rheumatology international · 2026Review
- Review
- Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation: mechanisms, applications, and research progress.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Review
- Research Progress of Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation in Chronic Pain Management: A Narrative Review.Journal of pain research · 2026Review
- From nerve to bone: a tale of autonomic nervous system, bone cells, and beyond.Military Medical Research · 2026Review
- Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation reduces total striatal GABA+ content, increases DLPFC Glu content, and facilitates early-phase motor learning.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Objective: Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation ( Design: A pilot trial in which participants received a 60-min tVNS was conducted. At baseline, immediately after, and 15 min after tVNS, we assessed knee pain, pressure pain threshold ( Results: 30 participants with knee OA were included, and all completed the intervention without any major side effects. Compared to baseline, knee pain was reduced by 1.27 (95 % CI, -1.74, -0.80) immediately after and by 1.87 (-2.33, -1.40) 15 min after tVNS; CPM improved by 0.11 (0.04, 0.19) and 0.07 (-0.01, 0.15); and HF improved by 213.29 (-0.38, 426.96) and 234.17 (20.49, 447.84). PPT and TS were not changed after tVNS. Conclusions: Our preliminary data demonstrated that tVNS may be a safe pain-relieving treatment for people with knee OA. Our findings suggest that improvement of knee pain might be derived from improvement of parasympathetic function and central pain mechanisms as no local therapy was applied. A large study is needed to confirm that tVNS is a novel intervention to ameliorate knee pain in people with knee OA. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05625178).
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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.