Efficacy of acupuncture for whiplash injury: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Studies in both Eastern & Western countries such as the United States and Europe have evaluated the efficacy of acupuncture for whiplash injury or whiplash-associated disorder (WAD). However, no systematic reviews on the effectiveness of acupuncture on WAD have been conducted since 2014. Therefore, we are planning an updated systematic review of studies published since 2014 to overcome the limitations of existing evidence. METHODS: Literature will be identified from searches of relevant databases, including international databases such as PubMed, Ovid-Medline, Embase, The Cochrane Library, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure and Korean databases such as Korea Med, Korean Studies Information Service System, Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System, and National Digital Science Library. Only randomized controlled trials using acupuncture or electro-acupuncture for whiplash injury will be included. The primary outcomes will be the visual analog scale or numerical rating scale of the neck pain, while the secondary outcome is the range of motion of the neck. The risk of bias for individual papers will be assessed by two independent investigators using the Cochrane “Risk of Bias” assessment tool. DISSEMINATION: We plan to report the results of the study in a peer-reviewed journal after completing the research. In addition, we expect this study to provide invaluable information to clinicians treating patients with WAD with acupuncture or electro-acupuncture. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: PROSPERO 2021: CRD42021261595. Registered on 18 July 2021. https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=261595