Therapeutic Observation of Electroacupuncture with Different Waves for Neurogenic Bladder Due to Spinal Cord Injury / 上海针灸杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To observe the therapeutic efficacy of electroacupuncture with different waves in treating neurogenic bladder due to spinal cord injury (SCI). Method Totally 108 patients with SCI-induced neurogenic bladder were randomized into 3 groups, 36 cases in each group. Same acupoints were selected for the three groups, but continuous wave, sparse-dense wave and discontinuous wave were respectively used after needling qi arrival. The symptoms score and urodynamic indexes were observed before and after the intervention. Result The total effective rate was 80.6%in the sparse-dense wave group, better than that in the continuous wave group and discontinuous wave group. The sparse-dense wave group produced a more significant effect in reducing the urethral closure pressure, abdominal pressure, functional urethral length, and urethral control length (P0.05). The discontinuous wave group produced a more significant effect in increasing the bladder pressure (P<0.05,P<0.01); the effect in lowering the bladder pressure was more significant in the continuous wave and sparse-dense wave groups than in the discontinuous wave group (P<0.01). Conclusion The three types of electroacupuncture wave can produce different regulatory effects on the body. The continuous wave is the most adaptable one but plays the least effect;the sparse-dense wave is closer to bioelectricity of human body and produces the most significant effect;the discontinuous wave produces the most significant effect in activating nerves and muscles, as well as in improving bladder weakness.