论文部分内容阅读
OBJECTIVE: Several studies reported that moxibustion therapy is effective for patients with low back pain (LBP),but those studies neglected dose of moxibustion and the optimal dose remained unclear.Dose of moxibustion takes an important place in obtaining good effects.Therefore,we report the protocol of a randomized controlled trial that evaluate the effects of moxibustion in the treatment of LBP and clarify the relationship between the dose and effects of moxibustion in the treatment of LBP.METHODS: Forty participants were randomly assigned to four groups.The small moxibustion dose group (SM),moderate moxibustion dose group (MM) and large moxibustion dose group (LM) respectively received 15 min,30 min,60 min treatments of suspended moxibustion on Guanyuan (CV 4).The conventional acupuncture group (CA) received acupuncture treatment as control group.The participants were treated continuously in 2 weeks treatment period for a total of 10 sessions,5 sessions were given per week.Participants were assessed weekly by blinded assessors,using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Roland Morris Questionnaire (RMQ).RESULTS: The VAS and RMQ scores reduced in four groups during treatment.There were significant differences in VAS scores (P<0.01) and in RMQ scores (P<0.01) between before treatment and after 2-week of treatment in the LM group.After treatment,the LM group reported lower VAS score compared to the CA group,MM group and SM group,and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05).CONCULSION: The large and moderate moxibustion dose treatments may be more effective for patients of low back pain.The treatment time was from 15 min to 60 min,efficacy of the moxibustion on Guanyuan (CV 4) gradually improved with increasing treatment time.