Observations on the Therapeutic Effect of Abdominal Acupuncture on Rheumatoid Arthritis / 上海针灸杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the clinical therapeutic effect of abdominal acupuncture on rheumatoid arthritis.Methods Sixty patients with rheumatoid arthritis were randomly allocated to treatment and control groups, 30 cases. The treatment group received abdominal acupuncture and the control group, conventional acupuncture. Pre-/post-treatment changes in erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), rheumatoid factor (RF) and C-reactive protein (CRP) were observed after three courses of treatment. The clinical therapeutic effects were compared between the two groups.Results There were statistically significant pre-/post-treatment differences in ESR, RF and CRP in the two groups (P<0.01). There were statistically significant post-treatment differences in ESR, RF and CRP between the treatment and control groups (P<0.01). The total efficacy rate was 86.7% in the treatment group and 56.7% in the control group; there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups (P<0.05).Conclusion Abdominal acupuncture is an effective way to treat rheumatoid arthritis.