Efficacy and central mechanism of acupuncture treatment in patients with neck pain: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Acupuncture is effective for reducing the symptoms of neck pain (NP). However, the underlying mechanisms are not fully elucidated. Based on evaluating the efficacy of two acupuncture prescriptions for treating NP, this study aims to investigate the potential central mechanism of acupuncture treatment for NP by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). METHODS: This is a randomized controlled trial; 86 patients will be randomly assigned into two acupuncture treatment groups at a ratio of 1:1. The whole study period includes 2 weeks baseline, 2 weeks treatments, and 12 weeks follow-up (4 and 12 weeks after treatment). The pain severity, the neck disability index, the cervical range of motion, and the pressure pain threshold, etc., will be used to evaluate the clinical efficacy of two acupuncture prescriptions for NP treatment. The MRI scans will be performed to detect cerebral activity changes of 20 patients in each group. The clinical data and MRI data will be analyzed, respectively. Pearson correlation coefficient will be used to evaluate the association between changes of cerebral activity features and improvement of clinical symptoms. DISCUSSION: The results will provide further evidence for the clinical application of acupuncture in the treatment of NP. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR2000040930 . Registered on 16 December 2020.

Review of Clinical Trials on the Effects of Tai Chi Practice on Primary Hypertension: The Current State of Study Design and Quality Control.

The modulation of Tai Chi in physiological function and psychological status attracts sustaining attention. This paper collected original articles regarding the effects of Tai Chi practice on modulating primary hypertension from 7 electronic databases (PubMed, Excerpta Medica Database, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Chinese Knowledge Resource Integrated Database, Wanfang Database, and China Science and Technology Journal Database) from their dates of origin to October 1st, 2020. A total of 45 articles were included. The literature analyses have shown that the benefits of Tai Chi practice for blood pressure management have been identified in all of the included 45 studies, and Tai Chi exercise has shown significant efficacy in improving hypertension clinical symptoms and quality of life, compared to the majority of control interventions, though there are also some methodological issues, including small sample sizes, lack of exact randomization methods and quality control criteria, and lack of specific standards used to measure the characteristics of Tai Chi practice. In the future, the inclusion of additional design standards, stricter quality controls, and evaluation measures for the features of Tai Chi practice is required in trials evaluating its effects on hypertension.