Effectiveness and Safety of Acupuncture-Related Therapies for Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: A Protocol for Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Introduction Chronic pain is one of the major health problems worldwide in recent years, and acupuncture-related therapies have been reported to have definite analgesic effects. However, it is still unclear which treatment is the most effective. Our systematic review and network meta-analysis protocol aims to summarize the evidence and determine the most effective method to treat the chronic musculoskeletal pain. Methods and Analysis Our literature search will be performed in five electronic databases—the Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and PubMed, AMED, CINAHL, until May 20, 2022. All randomized controlled trials of acupuncture-related therapies for chronic musculoskeletal pain will be included. The primary outcomes will be common pain-related scales, and the secondary outcomes will include quality of life and incidence of adverse events. Excel 2019 will be used for data extraction, RoB2 will be used for bias risk assessment. R 3.6.2 and WinBUGS V.1.4.3 software will be used for network data synthesis and to produce related plots. During the study, literature selection, data extraction, quality assessment and bias risk assessment will be independently completed by two reviewers, and differences will be judged by the third reviewer. Finally, the risk of bias and sources of heterogeneity in the study will be analyzed and explained in order to obtain reliable results. Results Our study will evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture-related therapies for the treatment of chronic musculoskeletal pain, and we will rank all methods to recommend the best appropriate treatment option. Conclusion This study will provide a good foundation for complementary and alternative medicine to treat chronic musculoskeletal pain. It will be also helpful to promote the clinical practice by providing evidence-based medical evidence.

The use of acupuncture among chronic disease patients attending primary health facilities: a cross-sectional study in Korea

“…This ndings align with research from surveys conducted in the U.S., Germany, and Norway, which also reported a higher likelihood of acupuncture usage among individuals with musculoskeletal diseases [29,34,40]. This re ects several studies [41,42] demonstrating the e cacy of acupuncture in the management of musculoskeletal disorders and highlights its potential as a valuable treatment option for conditions such as chronic pain.…”

Comparative Efficacy of Different Acupuncture-Related Therapies for Primary Tinnitus: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis Protocol

“…Annealing will be performed using the initial 20,000 iterations to mitigate the initial value’s influence, and the remaining 30,000 iterations will be utilized for sampling calculations. 27 The convergence of the model will be evaluated by the Brooks-Gelman-Rubin diagnosis method. Specifically, when the Potential Scale Reduction Factor (PSRF) approaches 1, it indicates a higher degree of convergence and greater reliability in the results of the consistency model analysis.…”

“…Conversely, if the PSRF deviates from 1, it suggests lower reliability. 27 This implies that the current number of simulations is insufficient for achieving satisfactory convergence, necessitating an increase in the number of simulations.…”

Acupuntura no alívio da dor osteomuscular e a melhora na funcionalidade na pessoa idosa: estudo quase experimental

“…Uma metanálise com 3.215 pacientes, com osteoartrite, mostrou que a acupuntura realizada com aplicação de diversas agulhas foi eficaz na melhoria dos escores de função articular 5 . Outras revisões sistemáticas e metanálises demonstraram que a acupuntura e as terapias relacionadas à acupuntura têm efeitos benéficos em doenças pertinentes à dor musculoesquelética, além de ratificarem sua baixa possibilidade de eventos adversos e baixo custo [6][7][8][9] .…”

“…Estudos recentes [5][6][7][8][9] sobre acupuntura foram conduzidas para avaliar sua eficácia em condições diferentes de dor -dor lombar, enxaqueca, fibromialgia, dor cervical e dor abdominal -e evidências encontradas permitiram concluir que a acupuntura é uma opção de tratamento eficaz para reduzir a intensidade da dor 13 . Ademais, a acupuntura tem no seu bojo a multidisciplinaridade, o que pode propiciar uma melhor interpelação terapêutica ao idoso e maior proximidade com as áreas gerontológicas 14 .…”