Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Apr 11:18:1963-1973.
doi: 10.2147/JPR.S512989. eCollection 2025.

Shallow Acupuncture for Chronic Neck Pain: A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial Protocol with fMRI and DTI

Jiahui Lin  1 , Zhilin Gu  1 , Peng Zhou  2 , Weikang Huang  1 , Aihua Ou  1 , Qi Zhao  3 , Zhenhua Xu  1
Affiliations

Shallow Acupuncture for Chronic Neck Pain: A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial Protocol with fMRI and DTI

Jiahui Lin et al. J Pain Res. .

Abstract

Purpose: This study aims to explore the central mechanisms of shallow acupuncture for chronic neck pain (CNP) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), an innovative approach not commonly applied in shallow acupuncture research.

Patients and methods: This multi-center randomized controlled trial will recruit 252 CNP patients from three centers (84 per center). Participants will be randomly assigned to three groups: shallow acupuncture, drug control (celecoxib capsules), or waiting list group, with 84 patients per group. The primary outcomes include total effective rate, visual analogue scale (VAS), Neck Disability Index (NDI), and brain imaging results (20 randomly selected patients per group). Secondary outcomes include the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Short Form 36 Questionnaire (SF-36), and cervical range of motion (CROM). Data will be collected at baseline, after 2 weeks, and at 3-month follow-up. fMRI and DTI data will be collected at baseline and after 2 weeks. Analyses will include regional homogeneity (ReHo), amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF), functional connectivity (FC), fractional anisotropy (FA), and mean diffusivity (MD) within and between groups. An additional 20 healthy volunteers will provide baseline fMRI and DTI data for comparison.

Conclusion: This study will validate the clinical efficacy of shallow acupuncture for CNP and explore its central mechanisms using fMRI and DTI. The findings may provide neuroimaging evidence supporting the broader clinical application of shallow acupuncture in treating CNS-related diseases.

Keywords: brain functional networks; chronic neck pain; clinical trial protocol; shallow acupuncture.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of the trial.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Cohen SP. Epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment of neck pain. Mayo Clin Proc. 2015;90(2):284–299. doi:10.1016/j.mayocp.2014.09.008 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Global. regional, and national burden of neck pain, 1990-2020, and projections to 2050: a systematic analysis of the global burden of disease study 2021. Lancet Rheumatol. 2024;6(3):e142–e155. doi:10.1016/s2665-9913(23)00321-1. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cohen SP, Vase L, Hooten WM. Chronic pain: an update on burden, best practices, and new advances. Lancet. 2021;397(10289):2082–2097. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(21)00393-7 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Blanpied PR, Gross AR, Elliott JM, et al. Neck Pain: revision 2017. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2017;47(7):A1–a83. doi:10.2519/jospt.2017.0302 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Krasselt M, Baerwald C. Celecoxib for the treatment of musculoskeletal arthritis. Expert Opin Pharmacother. 2019;20(14):1689–1702. doi:10.1080/14656566.2019.1645123 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources