Acupuncture combined with moxa is effective for the treatment of shoulder periarthritis. Suyang City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine researchers conducted a clinical trial comparing distal warm needle acupuncture with local non-moxa acupuncture treatments. The results show that patients receiving distal warm needle acupuncture have better recovery rates but lower total effective rates.
The measurement parameters in this study included a four-level clinical efficacy rating, Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) pain level scores, Barthel Index (BI) daily activity scores, and Constant Murley Score (CMS) shoulder function scores. For the efficacy rating, among the 38 patients in the local non-moxa acupuncture group, 18 recovered, 8 were significantly effective, 4 were effective, and 8 were ineffective, contributing to a total efficacy rate of 94.74 percent. In the distal warm needle acupuncture group, 24 recovered, 9 were significantly effective, 3 were effective, and 2 were ineffective, contributing to a total efficacy rate of 78.95 percent. While the total effective rate was higher in the non-moxa group, the recovered and significantly effective rates were higher in the distal acupuncture plus moxa group.
For VAS scores, patients in the non-moxa acupuncture group experienced a smaller decrease from 8.42 ±2.21 to 3.97 ±0.98. The decrease was greater in the warm needle acupuncture group (8.36 ±2.16 to 2.75 ±0.77). For BI scores, the warm needle acupuncture group presented a more considerable increase from 67.25 ±3.58 to 90.65 ±5.46. The improvement in the non-moxa acupuncture group was from an average of 67.81 ±3.49 to 81.57 ±5.79. For CMS, the warm needle acupuncture group showed more significant improvements from 68.15 ±4.26 to 91.75 ±6.72. The non-moxa group improved from 68.73 ±4.53 to 83.94 ±6.93.
In this investigation, a total of 76 patients were randomized into two groups. The non-moxa acupuncture group was comprised of 20 males and 18 females. Patient age ranged from 34 to 75 years, with a mean age of 55.61 ±3.87. Disease course ranged from 2 months to 3 years. Average disease course was 1.23 ±0.36 years. The warm needle acupuncture group was comprised of 19 males and 19 females. Patient age ranged from 33 to 75 years, with a mean age of 55.49 ±3.93 years. Disease course ranged from 3 months to 3 years. Average disease course was 1.25 ±0.35 years. Of all the patients admitted, 25 cases had symptoms on the right shoulder, 13 on the left.
Excerpt from:
Acupuncture Reduces Shoulder Pain, Increases Range of Motion