Acupuncture helps improve symptoms of cervical spondylosis

Acupuncture alone or in combination with moxibustion significantly alleviated neck pain and improved the disability of patients with cervical spondylosis as reported in journal Zhonggou Zhen Jiu (Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion).

Cervical spondylosis is a condition that affects the bone and tissues in the neck. The most common symptoms of the condition are neck pain, stiffness and headache. If nerves are trapped in the neck the pain can radiate to the arms and an abnormal feeling of pins and needles occur in the arms and legs. Cervical spondylosis often occurs in old people as we get old tissues in the neck such as vertebrae and discs suffer from wear and tear and cause stiffness and pain. Conventional treatment include muscle relaxation, painkillers both oral or local injection, and surgery for severe cases. Acupuncture and moxibustion have been used to treat cervical spondylosis in China for a very long period of time.

Researchers in China conducted a clinical study to compare the efficacy of acupuncture plus moxibustion with acupuncture alone or moxibustion alone treatment for cervical spondylosis. Patients with cervical spondylosis were randomly allocated to combination group, acupuncture alone group and moxibustion alone group (n=48 each group). The acupoints Bailao (Extra), Dazhui (GV 14), Jianzhongshu (SI15) and Zhongzhu (TE 3) were used in all treatment groups. The patients were given treatment for 20 mins daily, once every 3 days for total 10 treatments within 4 weeks. Northwick Park Pain Questionnaire (NPPQ) and McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) were used to assess the pain intensity and disability before, after treatment and 3-month follow-up.  

 

At the end of treatment, evaluations showed a significant decrease in both NPPQ and MPQ scores respectively compared with baseline in each group. The 3-month follow-up assessment with NPPQ and MPQ scores respectively presented that therapeutic improvement was sustainable in each group. Group comparisons revealed that acupuncture plus moxibustion achieved more significant improvement in terms of NPPQ and MPQ evaluations than acupuncture alone and moxibustion alone treatment.  

 

The study suggests that although acupuncture and moxibustion exert significant therapeutic effect on cervical spondylosis respectively, combination of both modalities has achieved much better efficacy.

Reference:

Di Z et al., [The short-term and long-term effects on neck pain caused by cervical spondylosis treated with combination of acupuncture and moxibustion with seed-sized moxa cone]. Zhongguo Zhen Jiu. 2014 Apr;34(4):325-8.    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24946627