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
