Chinese Painology Expert Consensus on Acupotomy for the Treatment of Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain (2026 Edition)

Since the 1970s, acupotomy, a minimally?invasive therapeutic technique originating from China, has been widely adopted for managing chronic musculoskeletal pain and has yielded promising clinical outcomes in real-world practice. Despite its growing popularity, several critical challenges have emerged during its clinical implementation, including inappropriate selection of clinical indications, substandard technical performance, and inconsistent, heterogeneous treatment regimens across different practitioners and medical centres. Such practice-related limitations may contribute to unstable therapeutic effects, preventable treatment-related incidents, and avoidable peri-procedural complications, which consequently hinder the safe, standardised promotion and widespread popularisation of acupotomy therapy. To address these gaps and standardise the clinical application of acupotomy for chronic musculoskeletal pain, this expert consensus was initiated at the formal invitation of the Editorial Board of the Chinese Journal of Painology. A multidisciplinary panel of leading national specialists in pain medicine was convened to develop this document. The expert group systematically searched and appraised available evidence-based literature published both domestically and internationally, and integrated high-level research findings with extensive, long-term front-line clinical experience. After thorough discussion, the panel summarised core recommendations covering the fundamental principles, standard operating procedures, indications, contraindications and key safety precautions for acupotomy intervention in chronic musculoskeletal pain. Following multiple rounds of group discussion, peer review and iterative revision, the final version of this expert consensus was reached.

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Publication Details

Journal
International Journal of Pain Research
Published
2026-09-30
DOI
https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijpr.20260203.22
Primary Topic
Myofascial pain diagnosis and treatment
Type
article
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article

Chinese Painology Expert Consensus on Acupotomy for the Treatment of Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain (2026 Edition)

Huacheng Zhou, Likui Wang, Jiong Chen, 刘荣国 et al.
International Journal of Pain Research
Myofascial pain diagnosis and treatment
article

Chinese Painology Expert Consensus on Acupotomy for the Treatment of Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain (2026 Edition)

Huacheng Zhou, Likui Wang, Jiong Chen, 刘荣国, Gaojian Tao, Jinsheng Chen, Zhenhua Cai, Zhixiang Cheng, Chao Meng, Xiang Liao, Liu Guangzhao, Li Shuiqing, Dequan Wang, Jinfeng Liu, Xiaochong Fan, Dasheng Wu, Shen Wen, Zhongxing Shi, Zhaohui Xie, Xuexue Zhang, Yongjun Zheng, Fuqing Lin, Ruilin He, Tao Sun, Liwei Han, Liu Shanshan, Tao Song, Ke Ma
article en

Abstract

Since the 1970s, acupotomy, a minimally?invasive therapeutic technique originating from China, has been widely adopted for managing chronic musculoskeletal pain and has yielded promising clinical outcomes in real-world practice. Despite its growing popularity, several critical challenges have emerged during its clinical implementation, including inappropriate selection of clinical indications, substandard technical performance, and inconsistent, heterogeneous treatment regimens across different practitioners and medical centres. Such practice-related limitations may contribute to unstable therapeutic effects, preventable treatment-related incidents, and avoidable peri-procedural complications, which consequently hinder the safe, standardised promotion and widespread popularisation of acupotomy therapy. To address these gaps and standardise the clinical application of acupotomy for chronic musculoskeletal pain, this expert consensus was initiated at the formal invitation of the Editorial Board of the Chinese Journal of Painology. A multidisciplinary panel of leading national specialists in pain medicine was convened to develop this document. The expert group systematically searched and appraised available evidence-based literature published both domestically and internationally, and integrated high-level research findings with extensive, long-term front-line clinical experience. After thorough discussion, the panel summarised core recommendations covering the fundamental principles, standard operating procedures, indications, contraindications and key safety precautions for acupotomy intervention in chronic musculoskeletal pain. Following multiple rounds of group discussion, peer review and iterative revision, the final version of this expert consensus was reached.

International Journal of Pain ResearchVol. 2(3)
Qingdao University (CN), Hebei Medical University (CN), Union Hospital (HK), Harbin Medical University (CN), Guangxi Medical University (CN), Xuzhou Medical College (CN), Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN), Anhui Medical University (CN), XinHua Hospital (CN), Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University (CN), People 's Hospital of Jilin Province (CN), Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University (CN), Huadong Hospital (CN), Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical College (CN), Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital (CN), Shandong Provincial Hospital (CN), Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University (CN), People's Hospital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (CN), Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University (CN), The Affiliated Yongchuan Hospital of Chongqing Medical University (CN), Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital (CN), Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University (CN), First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University (CN), Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University (CN), First Hospital of China Medical University (CN), Peking University Third Hospital (CN), Fujian Provincial Hospital (CN), First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University (CN), Shandong First Medical University (CN), First Hospital of Lanzhou University (CN), First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University (CN), Lanzhou University (CN), Nanjing Medical University (CN), Chongqing Medical University (CN), China Medical University (CN)
Openalex Percentile: Top 15%
Myofascial pain diagnosis and treatment
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