Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 18, 2026
02:41
Acupoint Catgut Embedding for Treatment of Chronic Pelvic Pain Due to the Sequelae of Pelvic Inflammatory Disease
Published on: May 3, 2024
Acupuncture for chronic pain: individual patient data meta-analysis
Andrew J Vickers1, Angel M Cronin, Alexandra C Maschino
1Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA. vickersa@mskcc.org
Archives of Internal Medicine
|September 12, 2012
Summary
Acupuncture effectively reduces chronic pain, offering a viable treatment option. While superior to sham or no treatment, its effects are modest, suggesting combined therapeutic factors.
Area of Science:
- Integrative Medicine
- Pain Management
- Clinical Research
Background:
- Acupuncture is frequently utilized for chronic pain management.
- Significant debate exists regarding its therapeutic efficacy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify the effect size of acupuncture for four common chronic pain conditions.
- To evaluate acupuncture's effectiveness using rigorous scientific methodology.
Main Methods:
- Systematic review and individual patient data meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs).
- Included 29 eligible RCTs with 17,922 patients, ensuring adequate allocation concealment.
- Analyzed data for back and neck pain, osteoarthritis, chronic headache, and shoulder pain.
Main Results:
- Acupuncture demonstrated superiority over sham and no-acupuncture controls across all pain conditions (P < .001).
- Effect sizes for acupuncture were consistent across conditions after excluding outlying studies.
- Patients receiving acupuncture reported reduced pain scores compared to controls (e.g., 0.23 SD lower than sham for back/neck pain).
Conclusions:
- Acupuncture is an effective treatment for chronic pain and a reasonable therapeutic option.
- Results indicate acupuncture's effects extend beyond placebo.
- Therapeutic benefits likely involve factors beyond specific needling techniques.
