Clinical Observation on Abdominal Acupuncture Treatment for Lumbar Intervertebral Disc Herniation

Objective To compare the efficacy of abdominal acupuncture with conventional acupuncture in treating lumbar intervertebral disc herniation. Methods One hundred and eighty patients with lumbar intervertebral disc herniation were randomly allocated to an abdominal acupuncture group of 90 cases and a conventional acupuncture group of 90 cases. The prescription,needle insertion depth and techniques,needle retention time,and treatment course were worked out. The therapeutic effects were evaluated by blinded assessors using McGill pain questionnaire and modified Japanese Orthopaedics Association Low Back Pain Score(M-JOA) . Results Of the 90 cases of the abdominal acupuncture group,49(54.4%) obtained an excellent effect,24(26.7%) obtained a good effect,13(14.4%) obtained a fair effect and 4(4.4%) obtained a poor effect,with a total efficacy rate of 95.6%. Of the 90 cases of the conventional acupuncture group,42(46.7%) obtained an excellent effect,22(24.4%) obtained a good effect,1(21.1%) obtained a fair effect and 7(7.8%) obtained a poor effect,with a total efficacy rate of 92.2%. Conclusion Statistical analysis showed that there was no significant difference in the total efficacy rate between the two groups,but there was a significant difference in the excellent-good rate between the two groups. The effect was better in the abdominal acupuncture group than in the conventional acupuncture group.