Electroacupuncture at Houxi (SI 3) for acute lumbar sprain：a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials / 针灸推拿医学（英文版）

ABSTRACT

Objective:To assess the efficacy and safety of electroacupuncture (EA) at Houxi (SI 3) in treating acute lumbar sprain. Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving EA at Houxi (SI 3) for acute lumbar sprain were retrieved from PubMed (1966-2014), EMBASE (1980-2014), Cochrane Library (Issue 1, 2014), CQVIP Database (1989-2014), Wanfang Digital Journal (1998-2014), the Chinese Biological Medical Literature Database (CBM, 1978-2014), and China National Knowledge Internet (CNKI, 1979-2014). The collection of data also adopted hand-search of the relevant journals from the Library of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. All of the data were first evaluated and extracted by two reviewers independently with a specially designed form. Then, the available data were analyzed by the Cochrane Collaboration's RevMan 5.2.0 software. Results:A total of 6 trials involving 1 288 patients were eligible. Meta-analysis showed that the total effectiveness rate in the EA group was significantly different when compared with Nimesulide [RR=1.33; 95% CI (1.19 to 1.49)] and Mobic [RR=1.08; 95% CI (1.03 to 1.14)], but similar to that of acupuncture at Yaotongdian (EX-UE 7) [RR=71.09; 95% CI (1.00 to 1.19)] and Diclofenac Sodium [RR=1.08; (95% CI 0.96 to 1.21)]. The recovery rate in the EA group was significantly different when compared with Mobic [RR=1.67; (95% CI 1.45 to 1.92)] and Nimesulid [RR=1.37; (95% CI 1.15 to 1.62)], but similar to that of acupuncture at Yaotongdian [(RR=1.35; 95% CI 0.99 to 1.84)] and Diclofenac Sodium [(RR=1.19; 95% CI 0.88 to 1.61)]. Conclusion:Up to the search date, there are few high quality RCTs to evaluate the clinical efficacy of EA at Houxi (SI 3) for acute lumbar sprain, especially studies in English. Yet EA at Houxi (SI 3) still appeared to be an efficacious method for acute lumbar sprain, despite several inherent defects of the included studies. Further large scale trials are required to define the role of EA at Houxi (SI 3) in the treatment of this disease.