SynthesisPain research & management2026
Does Auricular Acupoint-Related Therapy Enhance Rehabilitation After Total Knee Arthroplasty? A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis.
Synthesis in Pain research & management, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis 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.
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, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Does Auricular Acupoint-Related Therapy Enhance Rehabilitation After Total Knee Arthroplasty? A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis.Pain research & management · 2026Pooled it
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAlthough auricular acupoint-related therapy (AART) is increasingly used for postoperative rehabilitation after total knee arthroplasty (TKA), evidence comparing the effectiveness of different AART modalities remains limited. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of AART through a systematic review and network meta-analysis (NMA).
methodsWe performed a systematic review and NMA of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from multiple Chinese and English databases, from inception to June 2026. Two reviewers independently screened studies, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias using the Cochrane ROB-2 tool and evidence quality with GRADE. Pairwise comparisons and NMA were conducted using RevMan 5.4 and R software.
resultsTwenty-four RCTs involving 1790 patients were included. Compared with routine rehabilitation, AART significantly reduced resting pain scores on postoperative day 1 (mean difference [MD] = -0.38) and day 3 (MD = -0.61) and improved movement-evoked pain on days 3 and 7. AART also enhanced knee function (Hospital for Special Surgery scores), increased active range of motion, and reduced complications such as vomiting, dizziness, and urinary retention. NMA suggested that auricular acupressure combined with Chinese medicine transdermal therapy may be the most effective intervention for early resting pain. Of note, the certainty of evidence for most outcomes was low or very low, and the findings should be interpreted with caution in clinical practice, serving only as preliminary reference rather than definitive clinical guidance.
conclusionAART may serve as an effective non-pharmacological adjunct in multimodal rehabilitation after TKA, particularly for acute pain relief, functional recovery, and complication reduction. High-quality trials are needed to confirm these findings.
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