Clinical Observation Of Warming Needling Therapy At Baihui (DU20) In Treatment Of Cervical Spondylosis Of Vertebral Artery Type

BackgroundCervical spondylosis of vertebral artery type (CSA) is one type of cervical spondylosis, accounting for about 8% to 10% of the total occurrence rate of cervical spondylosis. CSA is commonly seen in clinic. Due to the degenerative changes of the cervical vertebrae, the hyperplasia or the stimulation to the cervical artery, the reflexive contraction of the cervical artery makes the diameter of the artery smaller hence the obstruction of the blood flow and the dizziness. It commonly happens among the ages between 40 to 60 years old, with the characteristics of high occurrence rate, long therapeutic sessions, high reoccurrence rate, etc. There are many methods of acupuncture treatment of CSA, with the advantages such as satisfactory therapeutic efficacy, little adverse effects, quick therapeutic efficacy, simple manipulations, cheap price, etc.ObjectiveTo observe the clinical therapeutic efficacy of warming needling therapy at Baihui (DU 20) in the treatment of CSA and explore the clinical values and mechanism hence provides the theoretical basis for the clinical treatment of CSA.Methods60 cases of CSA which were accordance with the inclusive criteria were enrolled and randomized into treatment group and control group, with 30 cases in each group. In the treatment group, all the cases were applied with the Baihui (DU 20) warming needling plus electro-acupuncture at Jingjiaji (EX-B2) and Fengchi (GB20) therapy, with 5 treatments being a therapeutic session and 2 days as an interval between the 2 sessions,2 sessions in total. In the control group, oral administration of Flunarizine Capsule was used,12 days in total. With the indexes of the main symptoms and the changes of ET and PGI2 before treatments, the therapeutic efficacy was observed and the mechanism was explored.Results1. In the treatment group, among the 30 cases,11 were cured,12 were apparently effective,6 were effective,1 was ineffective, with the greater rate as 76.7%. In the control group, among the 30 cases,5 were cured,9 were apparently effective,12 were effective,4 were ineffective, with the greater rate as 46.7%, with significant difference between the two groups (P<0.05).2. There was no significant difference of the symptom scores between the two groups before the treatments (P>0.05), indicating comparability. After the treatments, there was significant difference of the scores between the two groups, indicating that the improvement of the symptoms in the treatment group was superior to that in the control group.3. After the treatments, the contents of ET declined and PGI2 rised in both the two groups compared with that before treatments, with significant difference (P<0.01). After the treatments, with the comparison between the two groups, there was significant difference (P<0.01).ConclusionTo the cases of CSA, the therapeutic efficacy of the warming needling therapy in the treatment group was better than that in the control group, with the remarkable clinical effects, which is worthy of being popularized in clinic. After the treatments, the changes of the contents of the decreasing of ET and increasing of PGI2 maybe was the mechanism of this method.