This study systematically reviewed the
clinical efficacy of
acupuncture for lumbar
myofascial pain syndrome. The randomized controlled trials (RCTs) regarding
acupuncture for lumbar
myofascial pain syndrome were searched in
PubMed, Cochrane
Library, Web of
Science, EMbase, Scopus,
China national
knowledge infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang database, VIP database, and
China biomedical
literature service system (SinoMed) from database inception until August 1st, 2022. The Cochrane's
risk of
bias assessment tool was used to assess the
risk of
bias in all included studies, and
Review Manager 5.3
software was used for
statistical analysis of the extracted data. As a result, 12 RCTs, involving 1 087
patients with lumbar
myofascial pain syndrome, were ultimately included. The
Meta-analysis results showed that the
visual analog scale (VAS) score of
pain in the
observation group was lower than those in the oral non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication control [SMD=-1.67, 95%CI (-2.44, -0.90), Z=4.26, P<0.000 1] and other
treatment control [low-frequency
electrical stimulation, tuina,
electromagnetic wave irradiation combined with
piroxicam gel, SMD=-1.98, 95%CI (-2.48, -1.48), Z=7.74, P<0.000 01]. The
pain rating index (PRI) score in the
observation group was lower than those in the
lidocaine injection control [MD=-2.17, 95%CI (-3.41, -0.93), Z=3.44, P=0.000 6] and other
treatment control [low-frequency
electrical stimulation, tuina, MD=-5.75, 95%CI (-9.97, -1.53), Z=2.67, P=0.008]. The present
pain intensity (PPI) score in the
observation group was lower than that in other
treatment control [low-frequency
electrical stimulation, tuina, MD=-1.04, 95%CI (-1.55, -0.53), Z=4.01, P<0.000 1]. In conclusion, compared with oral non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication, low-frequency
electrical stimulation, tuina, and
electromagnetic wave irradiation combined with
piroxicam gel,
acupuncture is more effective in reducing
pain in
patients with lumbar
myofascial pain syndrome;
acupuncture also exhibites advantage over
lidocaine injection in improving PRI score and showed better outcomes over tuina and low-frequency
electrical stimulation in improving PRI and PPI scores.