ArticleJournal of pain research2025
Shallow Acupuncture for Chronic Neck Pain: A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial Protocol with fMRI and DTI.
Article in Journal of pain research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Efficacy of Superficial Acupuncture Stimulation with Dynamic Mobilization in Chronic Neck Pain: A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of pain research · 2026Trial
- 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
- Shallow Acupuncture for brainstem infarction: a randomized controlled trial protocol.Frontiers in neurologyArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Purpose: This study aims to explore the central mechanisms of shallow acupuncture for chronic neck pain (CNP) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), an innovative approach not commonly applied in shallow acupuncture research. Patients and Methods: This multi-center randomized controlled trial will recruit 252 CNP patients from three centers (84 per center). Participants will be randomly assigned to three groups: shallow acupuncture, drug control (celecoxib capsules), or waiting list group, with 84 patients per group. The primary outcomes include total effective rate, visual analogue scale (VAS), Neck Disability Index (NDI), and brain imaging results (20 randomly selected patients per group). Secondary outcomes include the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Short Form 36 Questionnaire (SF-36), and cervical range of motion (CROM). Data will be collected at baseline, after 2 weeks, and at 3-month follow-up. fMRI and DTI data will be collected at baseline and after 2 weeks. Analyses will include regional homogeneity (ReHo), amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF), functional connectivity (FC), fractional anisotropy (FA), and mean diffusivity (MD) within and between groups. An additional 20 healthy volunteers will provide baseline fMRI and DTI data for comparison. Conclusion: This study will validate the clinical efficacy of shallow acupuncture for CNP and explore its central mechanisms using fMRI and DTI. The findings may provide neuroimaging evidence supporting the broader clinical application of shallow acupuncture in treating CNS-related diseases.
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Registered trials
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