ReviewFrontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland)2025
Efficacy and safety of the thumbtack needle for neck pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Review in Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
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
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Neck pain (NP) is a common musculoskeletal disorder that significantly affects the physical function and quality of life of patients. Thumbtack needle therapy is widely used to manage NP. However, previous studies have reported inconsistent clinical outcomes. This study aims to systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of thumbtack needle therapy for NP. Methods: A systematic search was conducted in the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Embase, PubMed, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), China Science and Technology Journal (VIP), and Wanfang databases from their inception to 24 September 2023 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on thumbtack needle therapy for NP. Outcome measures included the visual analog scale (VAS) scores, neck disability index (NDI) scores, total effective rate, and adverse events. A meta-analysis was performed using Review Manager 5.3. The quality of evidence was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) system. Results: Seven RCTs involving 425 patients were included. Compared with the control group, thumbtack needle therapy significantly reduced VAS scores (MD = -1.33, 95% confidence interval (CI): -1.63, -1.03; Conclusions: This study found that thumbtack needle therapy can effectively relieve pain and improve cervical mobility in patients with NP. The reduction in VAS scores reached the level of the minimum clinically important difference, indicating that thumbtack needle treatment for neck pain has a clinically significant impact. In the future, high-quality RCTs are needed to further validate the clinical efficacy of thumbtack needle therapy for NP. Systematic Review Registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD42025632076, PROSPERO CRD42025632076.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.