Treatment of 30 patients with cervical spondylotic radiculopathy by acupuncture plus warming-needle moxibustion: a randomized controlled trial

ObjectiveTo observe the clinical efficacy of acupuncture plus warming-needle moxibustion for the treatment of cervical spondylotic radiculopathy.MethodsSixty patients with cervical spondylotic radiculopathy were randomly divided into a warming-needle moxibustion group (group A) and an acupuncture group (group B) according to random number table, with thirty cases in each group. For the patients in the group A, Fēngchí ( GB 20), Jīngjiāj (Jiājī points on the neck), Dàzhuī ( GV 14), Dàzhù ( BL 11), Jùgŭ ( LI 16), Tiānzōng ( SI 11), Tiānliáo ( TE 15), Jiānjīng ( GB 21) and Hégù ( LI 4) were selected for warming-needle moxibustion. In the group B, Jiānliáo ( TE 14), Jiānyú ( LI 15), Qūchí ( LI 11), Tiānjīng ( TE 10), Yángchí ( TE 4), and Wàiguān ( TE 5) were selected for acupuncture. Both groups were treated once a day and ten times constituted a course of treatment.ResultsCompared with the group B, significant differences were observed in the group A after a course of treatment in terms of 20-score scoring for symptoms of cervical spondylotic radiculopathy, VAS scoring and clinical efficacy [16.63±2.31 vs 15.67±2.48, 2.36±1.59 vs 3.9812.32, 100% (30/30) vs 86.7%, all P<0.05].ConclusionAcupuncture plus warming-needle moxibustion can significantly reduce neck pain and improve neck function of patients with cervical spondylotic radiculopathy, which is worthy of clinical application due to its simple manipulation.