Acupotomy combined with massage for cervical spondylotic radiculopathy

Abstract

Background: Cervical spondylotic radiculopathy (CSR) is a clinical syndrome of radial neck and shoulder pain. Both Massage and Acupotomy have been widely used in the treatment of CSR, in China and achieved satisfied efficacy. Therefore, the aim of this study is to systematically evaluate the clinical efficacy of acupotomy combined with massage in the treatment of CSR. Methods: The following electronic databases will be searched: PubMed, Web of Science, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), the Cochrane Library, Embase, SinoMed, Clinical Trials. gov, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang database, and VIP database. Two review authors independently search databases from their respective inception dates to September 2019 to identify potentially eligible studies. Cochrane Handbook 5.1 risk of bias assessment tool will be used to evaluate the methodological quality of the included studies. The Review Manager 5.3 will be used for all statistical analysis of the final included study. Results: The results of this systematic review and meta-analysis will provide a synthesis of existing evidences for the treatment of acupotomy combined with massage on CSR, especially in improving visual analog scale and symptom score. Conclusion: This study will summarize the current evidence of acupotomy combined with massage for the treatment of CSR. This study can further guide the promotion and clinical decisions. Ethics and dissemination: Ethical approval and patient consent are not required because this study is a literature-based study. This systematic review and meta-analysis will be published in a peer-reviewed journal. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42020171825.

Needle-scalpel therapy inhibits the apoptosis of nucleus pulposus cells via the SDF-1/CXCR4 axis in a rat degenerative cervical intervertebral disc model

“…After CS occurrence, the muscles behind the cervical spine remain in a tense state for a prolonged time, and the surrounding tendons form hard knots or inflammatory adhesions. These reaction points further increase the stress on the cervical intervertebral disc and accelerate its degeneration [48][49][50]. Therefore, we selected the tendon node around the cervical spine as the Ns intervention point.…”

Ultrasound-guided injection acupotomy as a minimally invasive intervention therapy for cervical spondylotic radiculopathy: a randomized control trial

“…From the perspective of economy and safety risks, conservative treatment is usually the first choice for patients. At the early stage of CSR, it is widely recommended that conservative treatment is performed for six to 12 weeks, and that surgical treatment should be considered if symptoms do not improve significantly [ 1 , 6 , 7 ]. According to statistics, only 10–25% of CSR patients ultimately need surgical treatment, with the rest achieving satisfactory results through conservative treatment [ 6 , 7 ].…”

Changes of Endothelin-1 and Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide Concentrations in Patients with Cervical Radiculopathy after Wrist-Ankle Acupuncture-Moxibustion and Hot Compression with Chinese Herbal Medicine

“…In general, CR treatment involves surgical intervention, such as anterior cervical decompression and fusion, cervical disc replacement, and posterior foraminotomy, and nonsurgical intervention. All CR patients should be treated with strict conservative treatment for at least 6 weeks unless the occurrence of myelopathy or severe muscle weakness or no improvement after 6 to 12 weeks of nonsurgical intervention [ 4 ]. Numerous studies have indicated that nonsurgical treatment, consisting of anti-inflammatory drugs, physical therapy, cervical traction, epidural steroid injections, exercise, massage, acupuncture, etc., has been commonly used as an optimal scheme for most CR patients [ 2 , 5 ].…”