Acupuncture for Spinal Cord Injury and Its Complications: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials
In Heo, Byung-Cheul Shin, Young-Dae Kim, Eui-Hyoung Hwang, Chang Woo Han, Kwang-Ho Heo · Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine · 2013 February 17
DOI 10.1155/2013/364216
Objective
To evaluate the evidence supporting the effectiveness of acupuncture treatment for SCI and its complications, we conducted search across 19 electronic databases to find all of the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that used acupuncture as a treatment for SCI and its complications.
Conclusions
The results of our systematic review and meta-analysis suggest that the evidence for the effectiveness of acupuncture as a symptomatic treatment for SCI and its complications is encouraging but limited. There is a great need to test the clinical implications of acupuncture for a number of SCI-related conditions. The efficacy of acupuncture for SCI and its complications must be studied using sham-controlled RCTs or CER with a standardized acupuncture procedure; such RCTs would conform to the recommendations of the CONSORT and STRICTA guidelines.
Critical Appraisal
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Insights
Acupuncture can be useful to treat spinal cord injury and its complications if patients experience side effects or have no (or a weak) response to a conventional treatment.
This is the first systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs that fully evaluates the effectiveness of needle acupuncture for spinal cord injury (SCI) and its complications. Of the 16 trials included in this paper, 8 trials studied the effects of acupuncture on functional recovery in SCI and 8 trials that studied its effect on the secondary complications that follow SCI (6 trials for bladder dysfunction, and 2 trials for pain levels).
The results of our systematic review and meta-analysis suggest that the evidence for the effectiveness of acupuncture as a symptomatic treatment for SCI and its complications is encouraging but limited.
Although the effectiveness of acupuncture is unclear in SCI or its complications, acupuncture therapy is a relatively convenient and safe treatment for some conditions. SCI patients who receive long-term rehabilitation or medication treatments may occasionally need a safe nonpharmacological treatment. In this regard, acupuncture can be useful to treat SCI and its complications if patients experience side effects or have no (or a weak) response to a conventional treatment.
