The Efficacy of Acupuncture for the Treatment of Cervical Vertigo: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Zhuanzhuan Hou, Shibing Xu, Qinglin Li, Libing Cai, Weigang Wu, Huida Yu, Huade Chen · Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine · 2017 May 9
DOI 10.1155/2017/7597363
Objective
This study aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture for the treatment of cervical vertigo (CV).
Conclusions
Based on the systematic review, acupuncture appeared to be a promising therapeutic approach for CV based on low or very low quality of evidence. However, large-scale and high-quality trials are required to provide stronger evidence for the conclusion.
Critical Appraisal
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Insights
Acupuncture was more effective than conventional medicine therapy in effectiveness, improvement rate of vertigo and headache, and increased average blood flow velocity of vertebral-basilar artery.
This systematic review and meta-analysis based on current evidence suggested that acupuncture may be more effective in effectiveness and improvement of clinical symptom and average blood flow velocity of vertebral-basilar artery compared with conventional medicine therapy for CV. However, the findings should be insufficient to make a firm conclusion due to a lack of studies with high methodological quality. Further rigorously designed studies and higher-quality trials with larger sample size are necessary to confirm the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for CV.
