Clinical Study Of Wrist-Ankle Acupuncture In Combination With Body Acupuncture For The Treatment Of Cervical Spondylotic Radiculopathy

Objective:Observe and evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of the wrist-ankle acupuncture method in treating cervical spondylotic radiculopathy in the hope of developing a new form of treatment.Method:In accordance with the requirements of prospective study,50 patients suffering:from neurological neck pain were randomly chosen for this study. Every aspect of the study was submitted to uniform diagnostic, exclusion and screening criteria.25 patients received the wrist-ankle acupuncture method besides the usual acupuncture treatment while the control group of another 25 patients received only the usual acupuncture treatment. Each course of acupuncture therapy consisted of 10 acupuncture sessions. Each patient was classified using the Visual Analogue Scale for degree of pain, before and after treatment.At the conclusion of each course of acupuncture therapy, a clinical assessment of therapeutic efficacy for each patient was done. Data was presented using Microsoft Excel and statistical analysis performed using SPSS17.0 software.Results:There were no significant differences (p>0.05) between the two groups of patients in terms of age and sex.This study produced results that showed a marked difference between the two groups.The results were as follows: Patients'subjective appraisals of therapeutic efficacy between the two groups:before treatment p>0.05,after treatment p<0.05. Clinical objective appraisals of therapeutic efficacy between the two groups:before treatment p>0.05,after treatment p<0.05. Effect on daily life between the two groups:before treatment p>0.05, after treatment p<0.05. Curative efficacy between the two groups:before treatment p>0.05, after treatment p<0.05.Conclusion: Although the therapies chosen for the control and treatment groups were efficacious, the therapeutic method chosen for the treatment group showed an increased curative rate. Alleviation of pain in the treatment group was better than those for the control group. There were also greater efficacies in improving patients'symptoms, clinical appraisals and daily activities in the treatment group over the control group. This study showed that there is clinical value in combining the wrist-ankle method with the usual acupuncture treatment when treating patients with neurological neck pain.