ArticleJournal of traditional and complementary medicine2026
Effects of acupuncture at ST-36 (Zusanli) on pain and associated sleep disturbance.
Article in Journal of traditional and complementary medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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
1 citing paper in PubMed.
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.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Chronic pain significantly disrupts sleep, leading to a vicious cycle that negatively impacts well-being. Pharmacological treatments for pain and sleep disorders often have adverse effects, highlighting the need for alternative therapies. This study investigates the impact of acupuncture at ST-36 (Zusanli) acupoints on sleep disturbances in rats experiencing chronic inflammatory pain. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to inflammatory pain via subcutaneous injection of complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) into the hind paw. Electroencephalogram (EEG) and electromyogram (EMG) recordings were used to assess the effects of acupuncture on sleep for 72 h post-treatment. Sleep stages, including non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, were scored. The role of the endogenous opioid system was evaluated by microinjecting naloxone into the nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS). Acupuncture significantly increased both NREM and REM sleep compared to baseline and improved pain-induced sleep disturbances by increasing total sleep time and reducing wakefulness. Naloxone microinjection into the NTS blocked acupuncture's sleep-promoting and analgesic effects, suggesting involvement of the endogenous opioid system. Additionally, pain thresholds, measured through paw withdrawal tests, were significantly elevated in acupuncture-treated rats, confirming the analgesic effects of acupuncture. In conclusion, acupuncture at ST-36 alleviates pain-induced sleep disturbances by enhancing sleep, potentially via activation of opioid receptors in the NTS. These findings support acupuncture as a promising non-pharmacological intervention for managing pain and associated sleep disturbances, with potential implications for treating insomnia in chronic pain patients.
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.