{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,9]],"date-time":"2026-09-09T16:16:30Z","timestamp":1788970590479,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,9]],"date-time":"2026-09-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788912000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":251,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,1]],"date-time":"2026-01-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1767225600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/doi.wiley.com\/10.1002\/tdm_license_1.1"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Pain Research and Management"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Lumbar disc herniation (LDH) is a common degenerative spinal disorder causing low back pain and radiating pain in lower extremities, significantly impairing quality of life. Auricular therapy, a non\u2010pharmacological approach in Chinese medicine, shows promise for pain management. However, current studies vary in design quality, with limited evidence\u2010based support.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>To assess the clinical efficacy and safety of auricular therapy for LDH\u2010related pain through systematic evaluation, providing evidence\u2010based guidance for clinical management.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A comprehensive search of major databases (China National Knowledge Infrastructure [CNKI], VIP, SinoMed, Wanfang, PubMed, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library, and Embase) was conducted through December 1, 2025, identifying randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of auricular therapy for LDH. Meta\u2010analysis was performed using RevMan 5.4 software, with evidence quality assessed using GRADE methodology.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Sixteen RCTs involving 1352 patients were included. The auricular therapy group showed significantly greater improvement compared to controls in Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) scores [MD\u2009=\u2009\u22121.05, 95% CI (\u22121.32, \u22120.78), (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      &lt; 0.00001)], Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA) scores [MD\u2009=\u20093.20, 95% CI (2.16, 4.24), (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      &lt; 0.00001)], clinical efficacy rate [RR\u2009=\u20091.12, 95% CI (1.07, 1.18), (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      &lt; 0.00001)], and lower incidence of adverse events [RR\u2009=\u20090.27, 95% CI (0.09, 0.77), (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      = 0.01)]. The GRADE assessment showed moderate\u2010quality evidence for clinical efficiency, low\u2010quality evidence for JOA scores and adverse events, and very low\u2010quality evidence for VAS scores.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Limitations<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Most included studies had inadequate randomization procedures and lacked allocation concealment. None included long\u2010term follow\u2010up data. All included studies were published in Chinese, limiting global generalizability and potentially missing high\u2010quality international research.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Current evidence suggests auricular therapy effectively alleviates pain in LDH patients and enhances treatment efficacy. However, due to methodological limitations and low evidence quality for some outcomes, rigorous multicenter RCTs with larger samples are needed to validate these findings.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1155\/prm\/5722429","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,9]],"date-time":"2026-09-09T15:46:36Z","timestamp":1788968796000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Unlocking the Potential of Auricular Therapy: A Promising Solution for Lumbar Disc Herniation Pain"],"prefix":"10.1155","volume":"2026","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-4836-2615","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hui-juan","family":"Li","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ting","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"An-li","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Juan","family":"Yuan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_9_1_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.spinee.2021.01.014"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_2_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.spinee.2021.02.022"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_3_2","first-page":"4562","article-title":"Study on the Correlation Between Exercise Compliance, Activation and Social Relational Quality in Patients With Lumbar Disc Herniation","volume":"19","author":"He M. 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Sleep Med."},{"key":"e_1_2_9_15_2","volume-title":"Clinical Study of Treating Lumbar Disc Herniation by Electroacupuncture Combined Ear-acupuncture","author":"Li H. X.","year":"2014"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_16_2","volume-title":"Observation on Analgesic and Therapeutic Effect of Auricular Acupuncture Combined With Warming Needle Moxibution of Jiaji on Lumbar Disc Herniation","author":"Liu H. L.","year":"2021"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_17_2","volume-title":"Analysis of the Action Points and Significance of Combined Treatment of Lumbar Disc Herniation With Ear Acupuncture and Muscle Bi Fang","author":"Chen B. Z.","year":"2011"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_18_2","first-page":"82","article-title":"Application of Auricular Acupoint Pressing Bean in Rehabilitation Treatment of Patients With Acute Lumbar Disc Herniation","volume":"57","author":"Ye B.","year":"2019","journal-title":"Chin. Mod. 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X.","year":"2024","journal-title":"Journal of Modern Drug Application"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_33_2","first-page":"393","article-title":"Mechanism of Qing\u2019E Pill in Treating Lumbar Disc Herniation Based on Weighted Gene Coexpression Network Analysis and Molecular Docking","volume":"39","author":"Jin H.","year":"2024","journal-title":"Acta Chinese Medicine"}],"container-title":["Pain Research and Management"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1155\/prm\/5722429","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1155\/prm\/5722429","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1155\/prm\/5722429","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,9]],"date-time":"2026-09-09T15:46:42Z","timestamp":1788968802000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1155\/prm\/5722429"}},"subtitle":[],"editor":[{"given":"Suraiya","family":"Saleem","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"editor"}]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,1]]},"references-count":33,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,1]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1155\/prm\/5722429"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1155\/prm\/5722429","archive":["Portico"],"relation":{},"ISSN":["1203-6765","1918-1523"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1203-6765","type":"print"},{"value":"1918-1523","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,1]]},"assertion":[{"value":"2026-05-11","order":0,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2026-08-06","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2026-09-09","order":3,"name":"published","label":"Published","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}}],"article-number":"5722429"}}