Effects of Acupuncture in Different Stages on Pelvic Floor Muscles and Urinary Function in Patients with Spinal Cord Injury / 中国康复理论与实践

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the therapeutic effects of acupuncture on pelvic floor muscles and urinary function in patients with spinal cord injury. Methods From March, 2012 to March, 2015, 23 patients with spinal cord injury were divided into control group (n=8), early intervention group (n=8) and later intervention group (n=7). The control group received routine rehabilitation, the intervention groups received acupuncture at Baliao (BL-31, BL-32, BL-33 BL-34), Yanglingquan (GB-34), Sanyinjiao (SP-6) and Taichong (LR-3) acupoints in addition. The early intervention group was acupunctured one week before removal of catheter, and the later intervention group adopted inter-mittent catheterization after removal of catheter, and then received acupuncture. The pelvic floor muscles strength, the urine function and quality of life were recorded before and six weeks after intervention. Results There was no significant difference in all the indices before in-tervention (P>0.05). After intervention, the pelvic floor muscles strength improved in the intervention groups compared with the control group (P0.05). The quality of life improved in all the groups after inter-vention (F>0.864, P<0.05), however, no significant difference was found among three groups (F=1.558, P<0.05). Conclusion Acupuncture, especially early acupuncture, could improve the pelvic floor muscle strength and bladder function in spinal cord injury patients.