Efficacy and safety of acupuncture combined with bone-setting in the treatment of cervical vertigo: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES: In this meta-analysis, we aimed to evaluate systematically the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture combined with bone-setting in the treatment of cervical vertigo (CV). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A systematic search was conducted across three English databases (PubMed, the Web of Science and the National Library of Medicine) and two Chinese databases (the China National Knowledge Infrastructure and the Wanfang Database). The search timeframe spanned from the inception of each database until 31 January 2025. The search terms were as follows: (i) 'Bone-setting' OR 'Bone Setting' OR 'Chinese Osteopathy' OR 'Chiropractic manipulation'; (ii) 'Acupuncture and Moxibustion' OR 'Acupuncture' OR 'Traditional Chinese acupuncture' OR 'Electroacupuncture' OR 'fire acupuncture' OR 'warm acupuncture'; (iii) 'Cervical Vertigo' OR 'Vertebral Artery Cervical Spondylosis' OR 'CV'. RESULTS: A total of 15 articles were included, all of which were randomized-controlled trials (RCTs), involving 2,320 participants. The meta-analysis results showed that, compared to using acupuncture alone or bone-setting alone for CV, the combined therapy demonstrated a significantly higher overall clinical efficacy rate (odds ratio [OR]=3.88, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.89, 5.19, p