Clinical Study on the Treatment of Lateral Humeral Epicondylitis by Wheat-grain Moxibustion plus Acupuncture

Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy of wheat-grain moxibustion plus acupuncture in treating lateral humeral epicondylitis,and to optimize the treatment protocol of acupuncture-moxibustion.Method By adopting a randomized-controlled method,sixty-two patients were divided into a conventional group(n=31) and an observation group(n=31).Conventional needling method was used in the conventional group;wheat-grain moxibustion was applied to Ashi points and acupuncture to the other points in the observation group.Visual Analogue Scale(VAS) and therapeutic efficacy were adopted for analysis and comparison before treatment,after 5 times and 10 times of treatment respectively.Result After 5 sessions,the VAS score changed significantly in the observation group(P0.05),but insignificantly in the conventional group(P0.05),and the inter-group comparison showed marked difference(P0.05).After 10 sessions,the VAS score changed significantly in both observation group(P0.01) and conventional group(P0.05),and the inter-group comparison showed marked difference(P0.05).In comparing the total effective rate,difference between the two groups was statistically insignificant(P0.05);the observation group was obviously superior to the conventional group in comparing the recovery rate(P0.05).Conclusion Wheat-grain moxibustion plus acupuncture is better than the conventional needling method in treating lateral humeral epicondylitis,and has features of efficiency and high recovery rate.