SynthesisPain research & management2026
Unlocking the Potential of Auricular Therapy: A Promising Solution for Lumbar Disc Herniation Pain.
Synthesis in Pain research & management, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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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.
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundLumbar disc herniation (LDH) is a common degenerative spinal disorder causing low back pain and radiating pain in lower extremities, significantly impairing quality of life. Auricular therapy, a non-pharmacological approach in Chinese medicine, shows promise for pain management. However, current studies vary in design quality, with limited evidence-based support.
objectiveTo assess the clinical efficacy and safety of auricular therapy for LDH-related pain through systematic evaluation, providing evidence-based guidance for clinical management.
methodsA comprehensive search of major databases (China National Knowledge Infrastructure [CNKI], VIP, SinoMed, Wanfang, PubMed, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library, and Embase) was conducted through December 1, 2025, identifying randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of auricular therapy for LDH. Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.4 software, with evidence quality assessed using GRADE methodology.
resultsSixteen RCTs involving 1352 patients were included. The auricular therapy group showed significantly greater improvement compared to controls in Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) scores [MD = -1.05, 95% CI (-1.32, -0.78), (p < 0.00001)], Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA) scores [MD = 3.20, 95% CI (2.16, 4.24), (p < 0.00001)], clinical efficacy rate [RR = 1.12, 95% CI (1.07, 1.18), (p < 0.00001)], and lower incidence of adverse events [RR = 0.27, 95% CI (0.09, 0.77), (p = 0.01)]. The GRADE assessment showed moderate-quality evidence for clinical efficiency, low-quality evidence for JOA scores and adverse events, and very low-quality evidence for VAS scores. LIMITATIONS: Most included studies had inadequate randomization procedures and lacked allocation concealment. None included long-term follow-up data. All included studies were published in Chinese, limiting global generalizability and potentially missing high-quality international research.
conclusionsCurrent evidence suggests auricular therapy effectively alleviates pain in LDH patients and enhances treatment efficacy. However, due to methodological limitations and low evidence quality for some outcomes, rigorous multicenter RCTs with larger samples are needed to validate these findings.
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