Efficacy of abdominal acupuncture for neck pain: A randomized controlled trial

Ho LF, Lin ZX, Leung AWN, Chen L, Zhang H, et al. (2017) Efficacy of abdominal acupuncture for neck pain: A randomized controlled trial. PLOS ONE 12(7): e0181360. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0181360

This is a randomized control trial that followed 154 participants with neck pain who were divided evenly into an interventional and control group. Of the 154, 77 were randomly assigned to receive abdominal acupuncture. While the other 77 received sham non penetrating abdominal treatment. All participants received six sessions of appropriate treatment. Efficacy of treatment was measured using the Northwick Park Neck Pain questionnaire (NPQ). Secondary measures on neck intensity and quality of life improvements were also recorded. These assessments were made at onset, at two weeks, and at six weeks for all groups. Those receiving abdominal acupuncture received an additional evaluation at 14 weeks. The results indicated that patients who received abdominal had greater improvement in NPQ scores than the sham group. These scores were persistent at 14 weeks, and the differences between the two groups were still statistically significant. This RCT demonstrates that abdominal acupuncture can be an effective alternative treatment for neck pain.