The Affiliated Hospital of Jiangxi University of TCM, Nanchang, Jiangxi, PR China.
Trials. 2011 Oct 13;12:226. doi: 10.1186/1745-6215-12-226.
Lumbar disc herniation is a common and costly problem. Moxibustion is employed to relieve symptoms and might therefore act as a therapeutic alternative. Many studies have already reported encouraging results in heat-sensitive moxibustion for lumbar disc herniation. Hence, we designed a randomized controlled clinical trial to investigate the effectiveness of heat-sensitive moxibustion compared with conventional moxibustion.
This trial is a multicenter, prospective, randomized controlled clinical trial. The 316 eligible patients are randomly allocated to two different groups. The experimental group is treated with heat-sensitive moxibustion (n = 158); while the control group (n = 158) is treated with conventional moxibustion. The moxibustion locations are different for the groups. The experimental group selects heat-sensitization acupoints from the region which consists of bilateral Da Changshu (BL25) and Yao Shu (Du2). Meanwhile, fixed acupoints are used in control group; patients in both groups receive 18 sessions in 2 weeks.
The study design guarantees a high internal validity for the results. It is one large-scale randomized controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of heat-sensitive moxibustion compared to conventional moxibustion and may provide evidence for this therapy as a treatment for moderate and severe lumbar disc herniation. Moreover, the result may uncover the inherent laws to improve the therapeutic effect with suspended moxibustion.
腰椎间盘突出症是一种常见且代价高昂的问题。艾灸被用于缓解症状，因此可能是一种治疗选择。许多研究已经报告了热敏灸治疗腰椎间盘突出症的令人鼓舞的结果。因此，我们设计了一项随机对照临床试验，以研究热敏灸与常规灸的疗效。
这是一项多中心、前瞻性、随机对照临床试验。符合条件的 316 名患者被随机分为两组。实验组接受热敏灸治疗（n = 158）；对照组（n = 158）接受常规灸治疗。两组的灸疗部位不同。实验组从双侧大肠俞（BL25）和腰俞（Du2）组成的区域选择热敏化穴位。同时，对照组使用固定穴位；两组患者均在 2 周内接受 18 次治疗。
该研究设计保证了结果具有较高的内部有效性。这是一项大规模的随机对照试验，旨在评估热敏灸与常规灸的疗效，可能为这种疗法作为中重度腰椎间盘突出症的治疗提供证据。此外，该结果可能揭示了提高悬灸治疗效果的内在规律。
