About this Research Topic
Pain management is one of the main challenges faced by medicine. Although a number of drugs are nowadays available to stop or relieve pain, compliance, side effects and drug interactions are key issues to tackle with. Specifically, how to manage chronic pain, treat elderly patients, and face polypharmacy are definitely priorities. The search for effective non pharmacological treatment is consequently of utmost importance and can be extremely beneficial to patients. Over the last few years, acupuncture has been increasingly used to manage both acute and chronic pain and from China it has spread to the whole western world. However, some issues still remain unsolved: more information on the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying its effectiveness need to be acquired. Furthermore, additional therapeutic protocols should be developed to ensure treatment is personalized and prove its effectiveness versus usual care.
The aim of this research project is to collect articles investigating the neurophysiological mechanisms of acupuncture in the treatment of acute and chronic pain affecting the different anatomical regions.
Acupuncture will be compared with usual care to:
1. assess its therapeutic effectiveness
2. prove its higher tolerance
3. check its cost-effectiveness
The goal is to provide physicians and surgeons with scientific evidence and practical conclusions to help them manage pain in their daily practice.
The articles to be included in this collection should focus on:
1. Mechanisms of action of acupuncture in pain relief
2. Pain management in the different anatomical regions
3. Therapeutic protocols to administer acupuncture for treatment pain of the different body regions
4. Comparison between acupuncture and usual care with drugs when managing pain: effectiveness and side effects
5. Cost-effectiveness of acupuncture in pain treatment and assessment of its impact on public healthcare systems.
Articles assessing the effectiveness of acupuncture through comparison with sham acupuncture will be rejected because sham acupuncture – even when skin stimulation is minimal - has been widely demonstrated not to be inert. It is therefore a strong bias affecting the assessment of the real effectiveness of acupuncture as pain killer.
The aim of this research project is to collect articles investigating the neurophysiological mechanisms of acupuncture in the treatment of acute and chronic pain affecting the different anatomical regions.
Acupuncture will be compared with usual care to:
1. assess its therapeutic effectiveness
2. prove its higher tolerance
3. check its cost-effectiveness
The goal is to provide physicians and surgeons with scientific evidence and practical conclusions to help them manage pain in their daily practice.
The articles to be included in this collection should focus on:
1. Mechanisms of action of acupuncture in pain relief
2. Pain management in the different anatomical regions
3. Therapeutic protocols to administer acupuncture for treatment pain of the different body regions
4. Comparison between acupuncture and usual care with drugs when managing pain: effectiveness and side effects
5. Cost-effectiveness of acupuncture in pain treatment and assessment of its impact on public healthcare systems.
Articles assessing the effectiveness of acupuncture through comparison with sham acupuncture will be rejected because sham acupuncture – even when skin stimulation is minimal - has been widely demonstrated not to be inert. It is therefore a strong bias affecting the assessment of the real effectiveness of acupuncture as pain killer.
Keywords: Acupuncture, chronic pain, acute pain, acupuncture analgesia, cost-effectiveness
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
