A Clinical Study On Crossing Point With Longhujiaozhan Needling Technique In Treating Mastalgia

ObjectiveAccording to the theory of TCM, many meridians and collaterals which are connecting each other travel through the breast. The stagnation of Qi of different meridians cause pain in specific part of the breast, while pain is one of the most annoying symptoms of Mastalgia, which is also known as breast pain. The masterpiece of Ming Dynasty which is known as Compendium of Acupuncture and Moxibustion put forward that crossing point of the meridians with the needling technique of Longhujiaozhan can treat with such fixed pain. With the comparison of the effects between the treatment group and the control group, the effectiveness of this therapy in clinical cases can be evaluated.MethodsFrom the patient who visited the 1st affiliated hospital of Guangzhou University of TCM, we selected 60 cases who are suffering from Mastalgia. Subjects were equally divided into treatment group and control group in random. The members of control group were received the treatment of traditional prescription of acupoints, such as RN17(Danzhong), ST15(Wuyi), ST18(Rugen), ST(F40englong), ST36(Zusanli), PC6(Neiguan), LR3(Tai chong), retaining the needle for 30 minutes after the arrival of Qi. While in The treatment group, crossing point and Longhujiaozhan technique were applied to the treatment according to the different painful part of the breast, retaining the needle for 30 minutes. Both group had treatment every other day. The therapy last for a menstrual cycle. The scores of Visual Analog Scale(VAS) and the questionnaire of Chinese medical syndrome were used to assess the therapeutic effects.ResultsAfter this one-month treatment, the efficient rate of symptomatic alleviation in the treatment group was 80% and the control group was 53.33%, and it is proved that there was statistical difference between them (P< 0.01). It also showed that the control group of traditional prescription as well as the trial group of crossing points prescription with Longhujiaozhan needling technique could make an influence on pain grading scores and VAS scores. The trends of pain grading scores and VAS scores recorded at different period during the trial differed from each other as well, while there were statistical significance between two groups by comparison on pain grading scores (P< 0.05) and VAS scores (P< 0.001), indicating that the trial group had a better improvement on both kinds of scores than the control group. As a result of compared the decline trend of trial group with the one of control group, the treatment of trial group was more effective than the other one. On the part of associated symptoms, there was evidence that every group can reduce scores of associated symptoms more or less (P<0.001 in both groups).In addition, the symptoms of the trial group, which contain distention in lateral thorax of both sides, poor appetite, abdominal distention and insomnia, were also improved in a greater extent than the control group (P<0.05). Moreover, positive correlation was found between pain grading scores and VAS scores after analysis (Y=-0.0174+0.0450X), so that we can figure out that these two kinds of pain assessment is positively related.ConclusionThe results of both groups indicates that traditional prescription as well as the experimental one show that the pain has been gradually relieved, and other symptoms has been better. In addition, it is proved that crossing points with Longhujiaozhan needling technique make contribution to alleviating pain in a shorter time than the traditional one, and it do help clinician improve the effective rate of the therapy. This treatment do have the advantage on relieving breast pain, and can be a new way to treat with Benign Breast Disease.