The Curative Effect On The Treatment Of Nerve-root Type Cervical Spondylosis By Hou-xi Acupoint Of Different-depth Insertion

ObjectiveThe research was conducted with the method of randomized, balanced, opened and three-arm i. e. the Hou-xi deep-inserting group, the Hou-xi shallow-insertiing group and the routine acupuncture group, of which evaluating the clinical efficacy and quality of life(QOL) before and after the intervention and follow-up period. The objective is to evaluate the influence of acupuncture manipulation for cervical spondylosis (CS) based on different-depth insertion so as to explore the intervention of optimization scheme and promotion prospects.MethodThe study was designed as a randomized, controlled and balanced trial, which was totally included99eligible cases and randomized to three groups i.e. the Hou-xi deep-inserting group, the Hou-xi shallow-inserting group and the routine acupuncture group. Thus,33cases were radomized respectively in each group. The patients in the routine acupuncture group received the standard needling treatment at Jing-jia-ji, Da-zhui (DU14), Feng-chi (GB20, both sides) and Jian-wai-shu (SI14, both sides)and Jian-jing(GB21, both sides). The patients of the Hou-xi shallow-inserting group received standard acupuncture treatment plus bilateral Hou-xi (SI3) with shallow insertion (5mm) while the patients of the Hou-xi deep-inserting group adding bilateral Hou-xi (SI3) with deep insertion (30mm). The treatment for the3arms every time was lasted for30minutes, and the infrared therapy was provided for the patients in the three groups. With a complete treating course of two weeks, the patients in the three groups received6times of the treatment in total. The evaluation indicators contained the Questionnaire of NPQ, the Questionnaire of SF-36, and the VAS scale for pain intensity. Based on the above tools, the patients’ qualities of life were immediately evaluated by the time before and after their treating course, and follow-up once in4weeks. The datas were collected and stored in the database that set up by SPSS17.0, following by the analysis with descriptive statistics, demographic characteristics analysis, baseline analysis, and the multivariate analysis of variance based on the generalized linear model between the different groups after the intervention.ResultThere were totally94cases that finished the intervention and follow-up assessment, while the Hou-xi deep-inserting group covered32cases, the Hou-xi shallow-inserting group taken31cases and the routine acupuncture group covered31cases. The dropout rate is5.1%. There were no statistical significance between the groups in the constituent ratios of gender, age, disease course and medical history, etc (P>0.05). For the TCM syndrome distribution in the intervention group, it also suggested no statistical significance in the three groups of patients. For the QOL comparison, the differences of all the baseline data were equivalent between the groups (P>0.05). The result indicated that after intervention, the NPQ, VAS and the domains of SF-36were all improved. The data of the check points (i. e. before intervention, after intervention and4weeks follow-up) were analyzed by GLM repeated measures, which indicated statistical significance (P<0.01) in within-subject effects (i. e. in-group change) and no statistical significance (P>0.05) in between-subject effects (i.e. between-groupchange). In the judgment of immediate efficacy after finishing the treatment, the overall rate effective is84.4%in the Hou-xi deep-inserting group; the overall rate effective is83.9%in the the Hou-xi shallow-inserting group; the overall rate effective is77.4%in the routine acupuncture group. The difference between groups were statistical significance by chi-square test (P<0.05). Considered the medium and long-term efficacy after4weeks follow-up, the overall rate effective is84.4%in the Hou-xi deep-inserting group; the overall rate effective is77.4%in the the Hou-xi shallow-insertiing group; the overall rate effective is77.4%in the routine needling group. In the inter-group comparison of the effective rate, there were statistically significant difference (P<0.05).Conclusion1、Acupuncture has convincing efficiency on nerve-root type cervical spondylosis. The Hou-xi group of deep insertion and the Hou-xi group of shallow insertion are effective treatments for cervical spondylosis, which are both superior to routine acupuncture group. The Hou-xi group of deep insertion also has superior effect compared to the Hou-xi group of shallow insertion which has better long-term results.2、As an evaluating matrix for people’s physical and mental health which the Quality of Life(QOL) conforms to the health concept of traditional medicine ’Correspondence between man and universe’which focus on the harmony of nature and human. For the neutral reflection of the overall therapeutic effect, the QOL is an ideal indicator for the efficacy evaluation of acupuncture treating cervical spondylosis. The acupuncture manipulation can not only alleviate the patients’physical pain, but also can improve their comprehensive quality of life. However, in the evaluation of quality of life the Hou-xi group of deep insertion and the Hou-xi group of shallow insertion whether or not superior to the routine acupuncture group still can not come to a conclusion, which calls for further study.