微波配合中药热敷治疗颈、肩、腰、腿痛188例

目的:观察微波配合中药热敷治疗颈、肩、腰、腿痛的疗效。方法:微波治疗采用SM-92型多功能微波治疗仪;中药热敷自拟骨洗方(透骨草、伸筋草、桑枝等)。结果:总有效率为94.68。提示:微波治疗能改善人体局部组织营养,使血管扩张,增强新陈代谢,提高组织再生能力;中药熏蒸热敷,具有疏凤散寒,化痰除湿,活血通络,蠲痹止痛之功效。

Clinical Experience in Application of the Acupoint Futu

Futu (LI 18) is an acupoint of the Large Intestinal Meridian of Hand-Yangming. Based on the TCM theories of Zang-fu organs and meridians together with the clinical practice for many years, the author has gained new experience in clinical use of the point. This is briefly introduced as follows.……

Holistic Acupuncture approach to idiopathic refractory nausea,abdominal pain and bloating

AIM： To evaluate the effectiveness of a holistic acupuncture approach on nausea, pain, bloating and electrogastrogram （EGG） parameters in patients with intractable symptoms.METHODS： Twelve patients with no or mild nausea （those without nausea had bloating or pain） and 10 with a histool of moderate to severe nausea were referred for acupuncture. All underwent an EGG and were treated at acupuncture points PC6, SP4 and DU20. Visual analog scales （VAS） assessing severity of nausea, pain and bloating were obtained before and after acupuncture treatment. Nineteen patients received three and three patients received two treatments.RESULTS： VAS scores for nausea reflected the clinical assessment and differed significantly between mild and moderate/severe nausea groups. Acupuncture significantly improved severity of nausea in both groups with improved pre-treatment nausea between the first and third treatments in the moderate/severe nausea group. Pain scores improved with acupuncture in the mild nausea group only and bloating improved only with the first treatment in this group. Patients with bloating with VAS scores greater than 35 pre-treatment improved with acupuncture and over all VAS scores for pain improved with treatment. Acupuncture increased the power in the 2.7 to 3.5 cpm range in the EGG.CONCLUSION： In this uncontrolled clinical study, a holistic acupuncture approach significantly improved nausea in patients with refractory symptoms and increased the power in the 2,7-3,5 cpm component of the electrogastrogram, Bloating and pain VAS scores improved acutely with treatment, This study suggests that acupuncture may be effective in this refractory group of patients and further study using appropriate controls is warranted,

Immediate Effects of Hegu Needling on Adhesive Scapulohumeral Periarthritis

Objective： To observe the immediate effects of Hegu needling at Ash points in patients with adhesive scapulohumeral periarthritis （SP）. Methods： A total of 60 SP cases were randomized into a treatment group and a control group, 30 in each group. Cases in the treatment group were treated with Hegu needling at Ashi points and normal needling at other local points. Cases in the control group were treated with normal needling at local points alone. The therapeutic efficacy was then evaluated and analyzed using short-form of McGill pain questionnaire （SF-MPO.） and Japanese Orthopaedic Association （JOA） shoulder scoring system. Results： Hegu needling at Ashi points can substantially alleviate pain in patients with adhesive SP, showing a statistically significant difference when compared with the control group （P〈0.01 or P〈0.05）. In addition, cases in the treatment group obtained better effects in abductor muscle strength, endurance, arm raising, internal rotation, external rotation, activities of daily living （ADL） and joint stability than those in the control group （P〈0.01 or P〈0.05）. Conclusion： Hegu needling at Ashi points is effective for adhesive SP

Effect of stimulating acupoint Guanyuan(CV 4) on lower back pain by burning moxa heat for different time lengths: a randomized controlled clinical trial

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of different heat-stimulating time lengths on lower back pain.METHODS: Forty participants were randomly assigned to four groups of various heating time lengths. The short heating time length group(SL),moderate heating time length group(ML), and long heating time length group(LL) respectively received 15, 30, and 60 min of moxibustion therapy stimulating the acupoint Guanyuan(CV 4). The conventional acupuncture group(CA) received needle acupuncture treatment as a control group. The participants were treated continuously over a 2-week treatment period for a total of 10 sessions, with five sessions given per week. Participants were assessed weekly by blinded assessors, using the visual analogue scale(VAS) and Roland Morris Questionnaire(RMQ).RESULTS: The VAS and RMQ scores reduced in all four groups during treatment. There were significant differences in VAS scores(P < 0.01) and RMQ scores(P < 0.01) between before treatment and after 2 weeks of treatment in the LL group. After treatment, the LL group reported significantly lower VAS scores compared with the CA group, ML group,and SL group(P < 0.05).CONCLUSION: The long and moderate lengths of heat-stimulating time of 30 and 60 min may be more effective for relieving lower back pain than that of short stimulating time lengths.

Therapeutic Efficacy Observation on Combining Acupuncture,Tuina and Functional Exercise for Transverse Process Syndrome of the Third Lumbar Vertebra

Objective： To observe the clinical effect of combining acupuncture, tuina and functional exercise for transverse process syndrome of the third lumbar vertebra. Methods： A total of 90 cases were randomly allocated into an observation group and a medication group. The 48 cases in the observation group were treated with acupuncture, tuina and functional exercise, whereas the 42 cases in the medication group were treated with Ibuprofen sustained release capsules. Before and after treatment, the short-form McGill pain questionnaire （SF-MPQ） was employed to observe the changes in pain rating index （PRI）, visual analogue scale （VAS） and present pain intensity （PPI）. In addition, therapeutic efficacies were compared between two groups. Results： The total effective rate in the observation group was 97.9%, versus 61.9% in the medication group, showing a statistical difference （P〈O.05）. After treatment, there were statistical differences between the two groups in sensory PRI score, affective PRI score, total PRI score, VAS score and PPI score （P〈O.05）; and there were also statistical differences between two groups in clinical sign scoring （P〈O.05）. After 4 and 8 weeks of treatment, there was a statistical difference between the two groups in re^apse rate （P〈O.05）. Conclusion： Combining acupuncture, tuina and functional exercise can obtain better effects and has a lower relapse rate than Ibuprofen sustained release capsules for transverse process syndrome of the third lumbar vertebra.

Diagnosis and Objective Pain Assessment of Traditional Chinese Medicine May Be Useful to Demonstrate Specific Effects of Acupuncture in Low Back Pain: A Prospective, Randomized, Controlled and Single Blinded Pre-study

Objective: To prove specific effects of acupuncture on chronic pain. It was speculated that the potential specific effectiveness of acupuncture could be better shown in more properly designed studies. Therefore, diagnoses of both Western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) were used as inclusion criteria to allocate acupoints more precisely to the complaints of the patients. Secondly, objectively measurable parameters of pain relief in addition to usual Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) were chosen to quantify the effects of acupuncture. Methods: The study was prospective, randomized, controlled and single-blinded. Eighteen patients with chronic back pain and TCM diagnosis of a Taiyang/Yangming syndrome received one single session of acupuncture chosen according to TCM diagnosis or acupuncture on points outside the meridian system (controls). We evaluated pain via VAS and increased mobility via inclinometry of the back. Results: Although the sample size was small, there was a statistically significant improvement in pain and mobility in the intervention group (n=13), but not in the control group (n=5). The calculated sample size adequate power was lower for inclinometry than for VAS, indicating that VAS is less probable to discriminate acupuncture effects. Conclusion: Objectively measurable physical parameters such as the angle of flexion before and after acupuncture (inclinometry) may be more suitable to measure pain relief than subjective assessment by VAS in acupuncture studies. TCM diagnosis may be a helpful inclusion criterion in studies on acupuncture, so as to potentially allocate interventions better to the complaints of patients.

Clinical Study on Puncturing Houxi (SI 3) Toward Hegu (LI 4) plus Lumbar Movement for Acute Lumbar Sprain

Objective： To observe the therapeutic efficacy of puncturing Houxi （SI 3） toward Hegu （LI 4） plus lumbar movement in treating acute lumbar sprain. Methods： A total of 212 patients with acute lumbar sprain were randomized into two groups. There were 106 subjects in the observation group who were treated with puncturing Houxi （SI 3） toward Hegu （LI 4） plus lumbar movement; the other 106 patients in the control group were treated with puncturing Houxi （SI 3） toward Hegu （LI 4） alone. Therapeutic efficacy was evaluated after 2 treatment courses. Results： The total effective rate was 95.3% in the observation group versus 88.7% in the control group, and the difference was statistically insignificant between the two groups （P〉O.05）. However, in comparing the treatment times for achieving recovery and effectiveness, differences between the two groups were statistically significant （both P〈O.05）, indicating that integrated use of acupuncture and exercise is faster in realizing therapeutic effectiveness. Conclusion： By selecting fewer acupoints, puncturing Houxi （Sl 3） toward Hegu （LI 4） is effective in treating acute lumbar sprain, and with the help of lumbar movement, it can achieve even better treatment effect.

Qi-guiding Needling Based on Meridian Differentiation for Lumbar Disc Herniation: A Multi-centered, Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective： To observe differentiation plus qi-gu （LDH）. the efficacy of acupoint ding needling in treating selection by meridian lumbar disc herniation Methods： By using the random number table, 549 patients with LDH were randomized into two groups. Two hundred and eighty participants in the observation group were intervened by selecting acupoints by meridian differentiation associated with qi-guiding needling method, and the other 269 participants in the control group were by selecting acupoints by meridian differentiation plus electroacupuncture. At the end of intervention, the changes of conduction velocities of the common peroneal nerve, superficial peroneal nerve, and tibial nerve were observed, and the therapeutic efficacies were compared. Results： The total effective rate was 87.5% in the observation group versus 86.6% in the control group, and the difference was statistically insignificant （P〉0.05）. The recovery rate was 51.8% in the observation group versus 37.2% in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant （P〈0.05）. Conclusion： Selecting acupoints by meridian differentiation associated with qi-guiding needling can produce a similar total effective rate to selecting acupoints by meridian differentiation plus electroacupuncture, while its recovery rate is comparatively higher.

Acupuncture in Preterm Babies during Minor Painful Procedures

Objective: To evaluate analgesic effects of acupuncture in preterm neonates during minor painful procedures. Methods: Ten preterm neonates requiring heel prick for blood gas analysis were enrolled in the study, which had a crossover design. Oxygen saturation, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, respiratory rate, heart rate, and crying duration were recorded before and after heel prick. Babies were given expressed breast milk before each procedure. Patients were randomly assigned to receive acupuncture or not, and the groups were crossed over on the following day, so that patients who had received acupuncture received only breast milk, and the previous breast milk only group received both acupuncture and breast milk. The neonatal infant pain scale (NIPS) was used for pain evaluation. Results: Crying duration and NIPS pain scores during heel prick were lower in the neonates who had received acupuncture. Conclusion: Acupuncture is an effective method for the treatment of pain in neonates.

Therapeutic Efficacy Observation on Electroacupuncture of Different Frequencies for the Third Lumbar Transverse Process Syndrome

Objective:To observe the clinical effect of electroacupuncture(EA)of different frequencies for the third lumbar transverse process syndrome.Methods:A total of 80 cases with the 3rd lumbar transverse process syndrome were randomized into two groups,40 in each group.Ashi points were connected with K8832-T treatment device in the medium-frequency electroacupuncture(EA)group,whereas Ashi points were connected with G6805-2 electric stimulator in the traditional EA group.The curative effects were evaluated after 10 treatment sessions.Results:The therapeutic efficacy in the medium-frequency EA group was significantly better than that of the traditional EA group(P<0.05).In addition,the improvement of VAS scores in the medium-frequency EA group was more notable than that of the traditional EA group(P<0.05).Conclusion:The medium-frequency EA is an easy and effective therapy for the 3rd lumbar transverse process syndrome and therefore worth popularizing to benefit the patients.