Effects of Duhuojisheng Tang and combined therapies on prolapse of lumbar intervertebral disc: a systematic review of randomized control trails

ObjectiveA systematic review of the literature was conducted to evaluate the curative effect and safety of Duhuojisheng Tang on prolapse of the lumbar intervertebral disc.MethodsThe databases of PubMed, CNKI, VJCR, CBM and CMCI were searched up to January 30, 2012. Randomized controlled trials were selected to compare Duhuojisheng Tang with one or more of the following treatments: traction, acupuncture, massage, cupping and Western medical treatment. The quality-evaluating standard and the software RevMan 5.1 in Cochrane coordinative net were used to analyze the data. The effective indexes of the results were clinical curative rate, effectiveness of alleviating clinical symptoms and adverse reaction.ResultsThirty-one randomized controlled trials of low quality, involving 3915 patients were systematically evaluated. Statistical analyses showed that good curative effect was achieved in both the group using Duhuojisheng Tang alone and with combined therapies.ConclusionUsing Duhuojisheng Tang alone or combined with other therapies can effectively improve pain, leg-raising height and other clinical symptoms of patients with prolapse of lumbar intervertebral disc. Due to low methodological quality of the articles, no exact recommendations can be made.