Clinical observations on acupuncture treatment of rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

Selected mainly were acupoints in the adjacent areas and along the meridians, assisted by ashi points. Fengmen (BL 12), Geshu (BL 17) and Xuehai (SP 10) were selected for migratory arthralgia; Shenshu (BL 23) and Guanyuan (CV 4) for cold-aggravated arthralgia; Pishu (BL 20), Zusanli (ST 36) and Yinlingquan (SP 9) for damp arthralgia; Dazhui (GV 14) and Quchi (LI 11) for heat-induced arthralgia. Acupuncture in combination with far infra-red radiation was performed.76 patients with rheumatoid arthritis were treated and 74 cases with herb therapy as control. The result showed that there was statistically significant difference in curative effect between the 2 groups, x²=10.18,P<0.01, indicating that the curative effect was significantly better in the treatment group than in the control group. Statistics showed that there was no significant difference in curative effect among the 4 syndromic types, namely migratory arthralgia, cold-aggravated arthralgia, damp-induced arthralgia and heat-induced arthralgia. But there was a statistically significant difference in curative effect between the above 4 syndromic types and deficiency-type arthralgia, indicating that the curative effect in deficiency-type arthralgia was worst.