The curative effect of traditional Chinese medicine fumigation combined with acupotomy in the treatment of heel pain: A meta-analysis
Li C, Sun ZW, Ma JX, Gao X, Lou HJ, Li CY · Medicine · 2025 August 22
DOI 10.1097/MD.0000000000043249
Objective
To investigate the clinical therapeutic effect of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) fumigation combined with acupotomy for treatment of heel pain.
Conclusions
The curative effect of TCM fumigation combined with acupotomy in the treatment of heel pain was better than that of medicine alone, although the evidence quality level was rated as low according to the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation system.
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Insights
Combining traditional Chinese medicine fumigation with acupotomy showed improved effectiveness in treating heel pain compared to medicinal treatment alone.
To establish the effectiveness of a combined traditional Chinese medicine fumigation and acupotomy therapy for heel pain, a systematic meta-analysis was performed utilizing global databases. The main criterion for inclusion in the analysis was conformity to randomized controlled trials. Review Manager 5.4 software was utilized for undertaking this meta-analysis. Results from 12 studies involving a total of 1095 patients were included. The patient groups were nearly equally divided between treatment and control groups. The heterogeneity test analysis revealed no significant statistical discrepancies among the 12 studies, which led to the use of a fixed-effects model for effect size analysis.
The final results of the meta-analysis revealed a statistically significant clinical difference in outcomes between the experiment (combined TCM fumigation and acupotomy treatment) and control (medicine alone) groups. In terms of results interpretation, even though the combined treatment showed better results in treating heel pain, the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation system indicated these results were of low evidence grade. The researcher called for caution when interpreting the results due to their less than optimum evidence quality level.
