The Clinical Study Of Qianci-acupuncture Treatment For Cervical Spondylosis And Neck Pain

ObjectiveObserve the clinical efficacy of Qianci-acupuncture treatment for cervical spondylosis and neck pain by the methods of randomized clinical trial, to verify the superiority of Qianci-acupuncture in treating cervical spondylosis and neck pain.MethodsAll the 105 patients are randomly divided by the SPSS19.0 into three groups: the Qianci-acupuncture group (the treatment group), the common acupoint-Qianci group (the control group 1), and the common acupuncture group (the control group 2). For the acupoint selection, the Qianci-acupuncture will use the meridian diagnostics to figure out the positive reflecting point which included the following situation:the pore density, skin color and skin tensity different from the healthy side, the pressure point, the subcutaneous nodules and tissues. Operation methods:patient sitting position, after the routine disinfection, insert needles into those positive reflecting point with 10-30 degree oblique and 0.2-0.6 inch deep, patients’neck movement is required at the same time, then adjust the direction and angle of acupuncture until the pain is released. For the common acupoint-Qianci group (the control group 1), acupoint selection:Tianzhu, Fengchi, Quchi, Waiguan, Cervical Jiaji, Ashi, and inserts the needle with 10-30 degree oblique and 0.2-0.6 inch deep. For the common acupuncture group (the control group 2), acupoint selection:Tianzhu, Fengchi, Quchi, Waiguan, Cervical Jiaji, Ashi, and insert needles without any action. All the treatment use 1 inch needle and 20 minutes’retaining after the treatment. All cases were treated once a day,5 times is a course,10 times would be treated, there were 2 days off between the two course of treatment. The curative effect of the three groups were evaluated for 4 times by the Northwick Park neckpain scale (NPQ) and McGill scale:pre-therapy,after the fifth therapy, post-therapy and one month after therapy. Use the SPSS 19.0 to set up database, and analyse the data collected with analysis of variance (ANOVA), repeated ANOVA and rank sum test.Results(一) For the general baseline situation, there is no significant statistical difference among the three groups, which includes the gender, age, disease duration, the scores of NPQ and McGill Pain Questionnaire before treatment (P >0.05), showing a balance of baseline characteristics of the three groups and therefore they are comparable.(二) Effect analysis:1. Compare the scores of NPQ and McGjill after the fifth therapy, post-therapy and one month after therapy, statistics show that there are significant differences(P<0.001) in the NPQ and McGjill Within-Subjects Contrasts, which mean that both 3 groups have definite effect in relieving neck pain.2. By pairwise comparison among the three groups at the same time, for the NPQ, there are significant differences(P<0.001) between the Qianci-acupuncture group and the two control groups after the fifth therapy and post-therapy, while there’s no significant difference (P>0.05) between the common acupoint-Qianci group and the common acupuncture group. There are significant differences (P<0.001) between the three groups one month after therapy. For the McGjill pain scale, there are significant differences(P<0.001) between the Qianci-acupuncture group and the two control groups after the fifth therapy, while there’s no significant difference(P>0.05) between the common acupoint-Qianci group and the common acupuncture group (P>0.05).After the post-therapy and one month after therapy, there are significant differences among the three groups by pairwise comparison (P<0.01). The results suggests that the effect of Qianci-acupuncture group is superior to that of the other two groups. It works faster and has long-term solid effect. The short-term effect of the common acupoint-Qianci group is smiliar to that of the the common acupuncture group whereas the long-term effect of the former one is better than the latter one.3. Comparison of the overall effect of the three groups after treatment:For the Qianci-acupuncture group,4 cases are clinically cured,27 cases have markedly effect,4 cases are improved and no cases are invalid, which contributes a curative rate as high as 88.75%. For the common acupoint-Qianci group, no cases are clinically cured,24 cases have markedly effect,8 cases are improved and 1 case are invalid, which contributes a curative rate of 72.73%; and for the common acupuncture group, no cases are clinically cured,22 cases have markedly effect,10 cases are improved and 2 cases are invalid, which contributes a curative rate of 64.71%. By further pairwise comparison, the overall effect of the Qianci-acupuncture group is far superior to that of the other two groups, and their difference is of great statistical significance (P< 0.05).It suggests that the overall effect of Qianci-acupuncture treatment is much better than that of the other two methods. Comparing the overall effect of the common acupoint-Qianci group to the common acupuncture group, there is no statistical difference (P>0.05), which has illustrated that the overall effect of the two methods is similar.ConclusionsThe Qianci-acupuncture therapy has quicker recovery on cervical spondylosis and neck pain than the common acupoint-Qianci and the common acupuncture. It shows that the Qianci-acupuncture has a distinct curative efficacy on cervical spondylosis and neck pain and is more consolidated. The short-term effect of the common acupoint-Qianci group is smiliar to that of the the common acupuncture group whereas the effect of the follow-up a month of the former one is better than the latter one.