Clinical study on abdominal acupuncture for osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture

• Published in: Journal of acupuncture and tuina science Vol. 13; no. 4; pp. 255 - 259
• Main Authors: Zhang, Wei, Qiu, Xiu-yun, Wang, Juan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shanghai Shanghai Research Institute of Acupuncture and Meridian 01.07.2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Abdomen; Activities of daily living; Acupuncture; Clinical Study; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Oral administration; 压缩性; R246.2; Osteoporosis; 骨折; Thoracic Vertebrae; Abdominal Acupuncture; 胸椎; Fractures, Compression; 针刺疗法; 骨质疏松症; Acupuncture Therapy; 腹针
• ISSN: 1672-3597; 1993-0399
• DOI: 10.1007/s11726-015-0863-5

Objective To explore the efficacy of abdominal acupuncture in treating patients with osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture (OVCF). Methods Forty-five eligible OVCF patients were randomized into an abdominal acupuncture (AA) group, a body acupuncture (BA) group and a medication group according to the random numbers generated by the SPSS 11.5 version software, 15 subjects in each group. Patients in the medication group were intervened by Ossotide injection (intravenous injection), Caltrate (oral administration), Alfacalcidol (oral administration), and Salcatonin injection (muscular injection). In addition to the intervention given to the medication group, patients in the AA group additionally received acupuncture at Zhongwan (CV 12), Xiawan (CV 10), Qihai (CV 6), Guanyuan (CV 4), Shuifen (CV 9), and Huaroumen (ST 24); while patients in the BA group additionally received acupuncture at Jiaji (EX-B 2, superior and inferior to the affected area) points, Ashi points, Weizhong (BL 40) and Chengshan (BL 57). For the AA and BA groups, the acupuncture treatment was given once a day, 6 d per week, for 3 weeks in total. Prior to the intervention, and respectively after 1-week treatment, 2-week treatment and 3-week treatment, visual analogue scale (VAS) and Barthel index (BI) were adopted to evaluate pain degree and activities of daily living (ADL). Results After intervention, the VAS and BI scores were significantly changed in the three groups ( P <0.05). Respectively after 1-week, 2-week and 3-week treatment, the VAS and BI scores in the two acupuncture groups were significantly different from those in the medication group at the same time point ( P <0.01). After 1-week and 2-week treatment, the improvements of VAS and BI scores in the AA group were more significant than those in the BA group( P <0.05); after 3-week treatment, there was no significant difference in comparing the VAS score between the two acupuncture groups ( P >0.05), but a significant difference was found in comparing the BI score ( P <0.05). Conclusion Abdominal acupuncture can produce a more significant effect in improving VAS and BI scores in OVCF patients than body acupuncture and pure medication treatment, and it’s efficient and causes few sufferings.