Objective: To observe the effect of "Tiaoshen Acupuncture" on postpartum low back pain.
Methods: A total of 98 cases of postpartum low back pain were randomly divided into a control group (45 cases, 4 cases dropping) and a treatment group (47 cases, 2 cases dropping). Conventional acupuncture was treated in the control group, and "Tiaoshen Acupuncture" was added in the treatment group on the basis treatment in the control group, acupuncture was applied at Baihui (GV 20), Neiguan (PC 6), Taichong (LR 3). The treatment was given 30 minutes each time, 5 times a week, 10 times for a total course of treatment. Before and after treatment, pain was assessed by the short-form of McGill pain questionnaire (SF-MPQ), dysfunction was assessed by Oswestry disability index (ODI), and depression was assessed by the Edinburgh postnatal depression scale (EPDS). And the changes of various indexs were observed before and after treatment.
Results: After treatment, the pain grade index (PRI) score, visual analog scale (VAS) score and present pain intensity (PPI) score in SF-MPQ of the control group and the treatment group were significantly lower than those before treatment (all P<0.001). The ODI score and EPDS score were also significantly lower than those before treatment (all P<0.001). The decline scores of the treatment group before and after treatment were significantly higher than those in the control group (P<0.001, P<0.01).
Conclusion: "Tiaoshen Acupuncture" combined with conventional acupuncture and conventional acupuncture can effectively improve the symptoms of pain, dysfunction and depression in patients with postpartum low back pain, and the former is significantly better than the latter.
Keywords: Edinburgh postnatal depression scale (EPDS); Oswestry disability index (ODI); Tiaoshen Acupuncture; acupuncture; postpartum low back pain; randomized controlled trial (RCT); short-form of McGill pain questionnaire (SF-MPQ).