Comparison of clinical efficacy between intensive warm needle oblique acupuncture and traditional acupuncture along meridians in treatment of lumbardisc herniation with blood stasis syndrome

  Objective  To compare the clinical efficacy of intensive warm needle oblique acupuncture and traditional acupuncture along meridian in the treatment of blood stasis lumbar type of disc herniation.

  Methods  A total of 120 patients with lumbar disc herniation were randomly divided into observation group (60 cases) and control group (60 cases). The patients in the control group were treated with traditional acupuncture along the meridians, and were divided into gall meridian type, bladder meridian type and mixed type according to the symptoms. Patients in the observation group were treated with intensive warm needle oblique needling, and intensive multi-needle oblique needling was conducted at lumbar Jiaji point and tenderness point, and moxibustion method of moxa column was added after qi sensation. All patients were treated 30 minutes per time, 1 time per day, 6 times per week. One course was lasted for 1 week, and the treatment was lasted for 3 courses. The traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) symptom score, Japanese Orthopaedic Association(JOA) Low Back Pain Scale score, pain mediator prostaglandin E₂(PGE₂), cyclooxygenase-2(COX-2), 5-hydroxytryptamine(5-HT) levels and hemorheology indexes (plasma viscosity, whole blood high shear viscosity, whole blood low shear viscosity and erythrocyte aggregation index) were compared between two groups before and after treatment, and the clinical efficacy and recurrence were recorded.

  Results  TCM syndrome score of the observation group was lower than that of the control group, and the JOA score was higher than that of the control group (P < 0.05). The levels of PGE2, 5-HT and COX-2 in the observation group were lower than those in the control group, and the plasma viscosity, high shear whole blood viscosity, low shear whole blood viscosity and erythrocyte aggregation index in the observation group were lower than those in the control group (P < 0.05). The total effective rate of the observation group was higher than that of the control group, and the recurrence rate in the observation group was lower than that in the control group (P < 0.05).

  Conclusion  Compared with traditional acupuncture along meridians, intensive warm needle oblique needling can effectively reduce TCM syndrome score, improve JOA score, reduce pain medium level and hemorheology indexes, improve symptoms of waist pain, improve treatment efficiency and reduce recurrence.