Pharmacopuncture Therapy for Non-specific Neck pain : A Protocol for a Systematic Review

This study is designed to analyze the effectiveness of pharmacopuncture therapy for non-specific neck pain. We will search 11 databases, including 5 Korean databases (KoreaMed, ScienceON, KMBASE, Korean Studies Information Service System [KISS], OASIS) and 6 international databases (EMBASE, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Citation Information by NII [CINII], WanFang data, China National Knowledge Infrastructure [CNKI]). Participants will be patients diagnosed with non-specific neck pain, regardless of the duration of illness, severity of illness, race, age, or sex. The intervention will be pharmacopuncture, while the comparisons will be with treatments other than pharmacopuncture. The primary outcome will be assessed using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) or Numeric Rating Scale (NRS). Additionally, adverse events related to pharmacopuncture will also be assessed. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on pharmacopuncture for non-specific neck pain will be included in this study. The quality of the RCTs will be assessed using Cochrane's risk of bias tools. The data from the RCTs will be analyzed as continuous variables using the standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Heterogeneity across studies will be assessed using Higgins' I² test. Cochrane’s Review Manager 5.4 will be used to synthesize the data for the meta-analysis. This study will contribute to establishing a higher level of evidence for the use of pharmacopuncture therapy in the treatment of non-specific neck pain in the future.