[Clinically randomized controlled study on abdominal acupuncture for treatment of cervical spondylosis].

OBJECTIVE: To compare clinical therapeutic effects of abdominal acupuncture and traditional acupuncture on cervical spondylosis (CS). METHODS: Sixty-two cases of neck or nerve-root type CS were randomly divided into an observation group (n=32) treated by abdominal acupuncture at Zhongwan (CV 12), Guanyuan (CV 4) and others, and a control group (n=30) treated by traditional acupuncture at Fengchi (GB 20) and cervical Jiaji (EX-B 2), etc.. Simplified McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) and clinical therapeutic effects were served as the objective indexes. Their clinical therapeutic effects were compared after the first session of treatment, at the end of therapeutic course and 3 months after the end of treatment. RESULTS: The two groups had a same effective rate of 100.0%. All items of MPQ in these two groups after treatment and 3 months after the end of treatment significantly improved, and in the observation group the differences in the PRI feeling score before and after the first treatment, and the difference of the total PRI scores after the first treatment, at the end of therapeutic course and 3 months after the end of treatment significantly improved as compared with the control group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Abdominal acupuncture can better reduce the pain of the patient caused by CS, with transient pain-alleviating effect, but whether or not the clinical therapeutic effect of abdominal acupuncture is better than the traditional acupuncture still can not be proved.

[Clinically controlled study on phased integral needling method for treatment of cerebral infarction].

OBJECTIVE: To compare clinical therapeutic effects of phased integral acupuncture and routine acupuncture on patients with cerebral infarction. METHODS: One hundred and thirteen cases were randomly divided into a treatment group (n = 63) treated by phased integral acupuncture and a control group (n = 50) treated by routine acupuncture. Their clinical therapeutic effects were compared after treatment. RESULTS: The treatment group in the decreases of both the diagnostic score for TCM diseases of stroke and the score for neurological function defect, and the therapeutic effect was superior to the control group with significant differences (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The phased integral acupuncture is an effective therapy with a therapeutic effect better than that of the routine acupuncture for treatment of hemiplegia due to cerebral infarction.