Tan Huijuan, Tumilty Steve, Chapple Cathy, Liu Lizhou, Othman Rani, Baxter G David
J Back Musculoskelet Rehabil. 2023;36(1):137-146. doi: 10.3233/BMR-210297.
Acupoints are considered a dynamic functional area, which can reflect the internal condition of the body. In pathological states, disease-related acupoints are believed to be activated, which is known as acupoint sensitization.
This study aimed to investigate the major manifestations of acupoint sensitization in patients with chronic low back pain (cLBP) to provide better understanding of acupoint sensitization phenomena in the context of cLBP.
This study was a matched-sample cross-sectional study 16 participants diagnosed with cLBP and 16 healthy controls matched in age, sex, and ethnicity were included. The following aspects of sensitization phenomena of targeted points were compared: pressure pain threshold (PPT), skin temperature, surface electrical conductance, receptive field, and morphological change of skin.
PPT at points of interest were significantly lower in cLBP participants compared with healthy controls (P< 0.05); in addition, receptive field was found to be larger at left BL 23 in cLBP participants (P< 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in skin temperature, electrical conductance, or morphology between the two groups.
Reduced PPT at all detected points and enlarged receptive field at left BL 23 were found in cLBP participants. These two features appear key in defining acupoint sensitization in cLBP, and provide evidence for selecting and locating acupuncture points in future clinical studies.
穴位被认为是一个动态功能区域，能够反映身体内部状况。在病理状态下，与疾病相关的穴位被认为会被激活，这被称为穴位敏化。
本研究旨在调查慢性下腰痛（cLBP）患者穴位敏化的主要表现，以便在cLBP背景下更好地理解穴位敏化现象。
本研究为配对样本横断面研究，纳入16例诊断为cLBP的参与者和16例年龄、性别及种族相匹配的健康对照。比较了目标穴位敏化现象的以下方面：压痛阈（PPT）、皮肤温度、表面电导、感受野及皮肤形态变化。
与健康对照相比，cLBP参与者感兴趣穴位的PPT显著降低（P<0.05）；此外，发现cLBP参与者左侧BL 23的感受野更大（P<0.05）。两组之间的皮肤温度、电导或形态无统计学显著差异。
在cLBP参与者中发现所有检测穴位的PPT降低以及左侧BL 23的感受野增大。这两个特征似乎是定义cLBP中穴位敏化的关键，并为未来临床研究中穴位的选择和定位提供了证据。
