This is an open access article under the terms of the Creat ive Commo ns Attri bution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Purpose
The prevalence of non-specific posterior neck pain (NPNP) has been increasing yearly. There are several treatments for NPNP, but in this review, we will focus on thread-embedded acupuncture (TEA). TEA is used in the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, and China for managing musculoskeletal diseases, obesity, and sequelae of facial palsy. However, there is insufficient evidence on its effectiveness and safety. This study aims to assess the efficacy and safety of TEA for NPNP.
Methods
We will search the following nine electronic databases, from their inception to May 2020: MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Citation Information by the National Information infrastructure, Korean Studies Information Service System, National Digital Science Library, Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System, and Research Information Service System. Only randomized controlled trials of TEA for NPNP will be included. The methodological quality of the included trials will be assessed using the Cochrane risk-of bias tool. To conduct the meta-analysis, the risk ratio and mean difference with the 95% confidence interval will be used. Sensitivity analyses will be conducted based on this protocol.
Results
The results of this study will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal for publication.
Conclusion
The results of this study would provide the evidence of whether TEA can be effective for treating NPNP.
Registration Number
PROSPERO CRD42020188346.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.