Acupotomy Therapy for Chronic Nonspecific Neck Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

OBJECTIVE: This review is to assess the efficacy and safety of acupotomy therapy in chronic nonspecific neck pain. METHODS: We searched six computerised databases. Randomized controlled trials incorporating acupotomy therapy alone or combined with other conventional treatments for chronic nonspecific neck pain were included. Two reviewers screened each literature and extracted data independently according to Cochrane Reviews' Handbook (5.1). The Cochrane Collaboration's RevMan 5.3 software was applied for meta-analysis. RESULTS: A total of ten trials involving 433 patients were enrolled. The pooled analysis indicated that acupotomy therapy showed a significant improving short-term and long-term effect on effective rate and cure rate. Meta-analysis demonstrated that acupotomy therapy group was superior to control group in restoring cervical lordosis and debasing VAS score. The result of continuous data did not support statistical significance of acupotomy therapy in adjusting clinical symptom score. For adverse events, acupotomy group did not reveal obvious superiority compared to control group. CONCLUSIONS: Acupotomy therapy may be beneficial to chronic nonspecific neck pain patients. To strengthen supportive evidence, future, more rigorously designed clinical trials, adequate adverse events, and follow-up project are recommended.