ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the therapeutic effect of wooden needle on the patients with insomnia.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>One hundred and twenty patients with insomnia were randomly divided into a wooden needle group and a western medicine group, 60 cases in each group. In the wooden needle group, the patients were treated with wooden needle to press the plantar reflex areas, such as cerebellar, throid and cerebral areas. In the western medicine group, Alprazolam was taken orally. Before and after treatment, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was used to evaluate the therapeutic effect of both groups.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The total therapeutic effect was 100.0% in the wooden needle group, while it was 90.7% in the western medicine group, there was no significant difference between the two groups (P > 0.05). Compared with PSQI before and after treatment, there was difference in the both groups (All P < 0.01), but there was no difference between the two groups (P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The therapeutic effect of wooden needle is similar to that of Alprazolam on the insomnia, indicats that wooden needle is a better therapy for treating insomnia.</p>