ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the medium-and long-term clinical efficacies of superficial needling therapy for lumbodorsal myofacial pain syndrome.Method Three thousand two hundred and fifty-one patients with lumbodorsal myofacial pain syndrome were randomly allocated to a superficial needling group of 1753 cases and an acupuncturegroupof 1498 cases.Seventy-threepatients in the superficial needling group and 105 patients in the acupuncture group did not complete the required courses of treatment and were lost to follow-up.The others in the two groups completed therequiredcourses of treatment and were followed up.After three courses of treatment, the clinical therapeutic effects were compared using the pain score at the end of treatment and at three and six months and one year after.Thereturn visit rates were also compared.Result There was a significant difference in the pain score (NRS score) between the two groupsat the end of treatment (P<0.01), which was significantly lower in the superficial needling group than in the acupuncturegroup, and a difference between the twogroupsat three months after.There was no significant difference in the pain score between the two groupsat six months after and no difference between the two groupsat one year after.There were no differences in clinical the rapeutic effect and the return visit rate between the two groupsat six months and one year after.Conclusion A clinical observation with a large sample shows that superficial needling has a good short-term therapeutic effect on lumbodorsal myofacial pain syndrome and is a safe and effective method, but its medium-and long-term the rapeutic effects are notgood enough.