A systematic review of the efficacy comparison of acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea.

BACKGROUND: Dysmenorrhea is one of the most common symptoms in gynecology. It refers to people who experience lower abdominal pain, swelling, backache, or another discomfort before and after menstruation or during menstruation, which seriously affects the quality of life and work. Clinically, there are many methods to treat primary dysmenorrhea, among which acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) are beneficial. This work aimed to test the efficacy of acupuncture and TCM in the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea and hope to supply more reliable evidence for clinical treatment. METHODS: We searched articles from the Wanfang database and China National Knowledge Infrastructure and collected the clinical, randomized, or quasi-randomized controlled trials of acupuncture compared with TCM for primary dysmenorrhea. We tested the quality and data of the included studies according to the Cochrane criteria and compiled detailed systematic reviews and meta-analysis. RESULTS: Seven articles (including 492 patients) on acupuncture and TCM for primary dysmenorrhea were included in the systematic review. Seven studies were included in the final analysis, and there was no heterogeneity among the studies (P=0.98, I2=0%). The results showed that the clinical effectiveness of acupuncture was better than TCM (OR: 4.86, 95% CI: 2.84-8.33, Z =5.75, P<0.00001). CONCLUSIONS: The efficacy of acupuncture is superior to TCM in the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea.

[The design and application of a moxibustion instrument with less harmful smoke and direction adjustment].

The design of a clip-on moxibustion instrument which could adjust the directions and absorb harmful granules of moxa smoke was introduced in this paper. It was designed to solve the problems in home health care and clinical treatment, such as the inconvenience of adjustment of moxibustion directions and temperature, more dust and granules of moxa smoke and inconvenience of moxibustion placement. The main part of moxibustion instrument was made up of moxibustion box, bracket and base clamp. The moxibustion box could fix moxa stick and absorb smoke granules; the bracket could be twisted to adjust the direction of moxibustion box; the base clamp was aimed to fix moxibustion box on the edge of the object to save space. This moxibustion instrument could be used for various indications of moxibustion, especially in the joints or body parts with less muscles; and it can significantly enhance the pertinence and safety of moxibustion, and reduce the labor intensity. This moxibustion instrument is original and unique, simple and reasonable, easy to operate, with low cost and good effect, which will increase new vitality for the popularization and development of moxibustion.