ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe therapeutic effect of using medicinal moxa stick moxibustion for treatment of tinea pedis.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>One hundred and forty-four cases were randomly divided into a medicinal moxa stick group (MMS), a moxa stick group (MS) and a Nitramisole cream group (NC) (n = 48 in each group). The moxibustion method was applied in both MMS group and MS group. The Nitramisole cream was applied in NC group. The treatment course was lasted for 21 days. The symptoms of patients with tinea pedis were recorded and scored before and after the treatment course, the effectiveness was assessed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The total effective rates were 89.59% and 81.25% in the MMS group and the MS group, respectively, with no significant difference between the two groups (P > 0.05). However, the total effective rate in these two groups were better than that of NC group (70.84%, P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The therapeutic effect of medicinal moxa stick moxibustion is better than that of moxa stick moxibustion or Nitramisole cream.</p>