Observation on clinical efficacy of acute pain treated with the intervention of different time of needle retention / 中国针灸

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To compare the efficacy on acute pain treated under the different time of needle retention so as to provide the scientific evidence for the optimization of needle retention time for acupuncture analgesia.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Eighty cases of acute pain (acute lumbar sprain, stiffness of neck) were randomized into 4 groups. Acupuncture was applied to all the patients. After the arrival of needling sensation, the needles were retained for 20 min, 30 min, 45 min and 60 min in different groups separately. For acute lumbar sprain, Ashi (Extra), Houxi (SI 3) and Weizhong (BL 40) were the main points. For stiffness of neck, Ashi (Extra), Fengchi (GB 20) and Lieque (LU 7) were the main points. McGill pain scale, the internationally recognized pain description and measurement was adopted to observe the indexes and record the score changes of each item of pain symptoms before and 3 months after treatment. The immediate analgesic efficacy under different time of needle retention and the longterm efficacy in follow-up visit 3 months after treatment were compared and assessed among the groups.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The scores of visual analogue scale (VAS) and present pain intensity (PPI) after treatment were all improved significantly as compared with those before treatment in the 4 groups (all P<0. 01), and the result in the 45 min group was superior to the other 3 groups (VAS 2.90+/-0.87 vs 5. 52 +/-1.01, 4.45+/-0.81, 5.95+/-1.07; PPI 1.40+/-0.21 vs 2.26+/-0.54, 2. 21+/-0. 43, 2. 28+/-0. 74, all P<0. 01). The total effective rate of the immediate analgesia was 95. 0% (19/20) in the 45 min group, which was better than that in each of the other 3 groups.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The 45 min of needle retention achieves the best efficacy of acupuncture analgesia in treatment of acute pain.</p>