BACHGROUND: Needle-warming moxibustion (NWM) demonstrates a controversial effect on lumbar disc herniation (LDH). This study is aimed at comparing the efficacy of NWM and conventional acupuncture or other physical therapies on LDH through a meta-analysis. METHODS: Potentially eligible literatures were retrieved and screened from electronic databases. The subject of the literature was a comparison of NWM and conventional acupuncture or other physical therapies for LDH. The methodological quality was evaluated by the Jadad scale. The chi-square test was used for the heterogeneity test. Subgroup analysis was used to explore the source of heterogeneity. Risk ratio (RR) or mean difference (MD) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to describe the effect size. The publication bias was evaluated by Egger's test. RESULTS: The effective rate of NWM in the treatment of LDH was significantly higher than that of conventional acupuncture (RR = 1.27, 95% CI 1.18 to 1.36, P < 0.00001) and lumbar traction (RR = 1.12, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.18, P < 0.0001) There was no significant difference in the effective rate between NWM and electric acupuncture for LDH (RR = 1.06, 95% CI 0.98 to 1.14, P = 0.17). VAS of LDH patients treated with NWM was lower than conventional acupuncture (MD = -1.51, 95% CI -1.70 to -1.31, P < 0.00001) and lumbar traction (MD = -2.64, 95% CI -2.79 to -2.49, P < 0.00001) but statistically insignificant with electric acupuncture (MD = -0.31, 95% CI -0.72 to 0.09, P = 0.13). JOA scores of LDH patients treated with NWM were higher than those with conventional acupuncture (MD = 2.24, 95% CI 1.04 to 3.45, P = 0.0003) and lumbar traction (MD = 10.76, 95% CI 10.45 to 11.07, P < 0.00001) but statistically insignificant with electric acupuncture (MD = 0.25, 95% CI -0.95 to 1.45, P = 0.69). The long-term effective rate of NWM on LDH was higher than that of conventional acupuncture (MD = 3.13, 95% CI 2.12 to 4.61, P < 0.00001). In this study, no heterogeneity (P > 0.10, I < 50%) and publication bias (P > 0.05) among the literature were noted. CONCLUSION: The effect of NWM on LDH was superior to traction therapy and conventional acupuncture therapy, but similar to electric acupuncture for LDH. High-quality randomized controlled trials were still needed to confirm the results.

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