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Wet Cupping Therapy Improves Local Blood Perfusion and Analgesic Effects in Patients with Nerve-Root Type Cervical Spondylosis

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Abstract

Objective

To observe wet cupping therapy (WCT) on local blood perfusion and analgesic effects in patients with nerve-root type cervical spondylosis (NT-CS).

Methods

Fifty-seven NT-CS patients were randomly divided into WCT group and Jiaji acupoint-acupuncture (JA) group according a random number table. WCT group (30 cases) was treated with WCT for 10 min, and JA group (27 cases) was treated with acupuncture for 10 min. The treatment efficacies were evaluated with a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Blood perfusion at Dazhui (GV 14) and Jianjing (GB 21) acupoints (affected side) was observed with a laser speckle flowmetry, and its variations before and after treatment in both groups were compared as well.

Results

In both groups, the VAS scores significantly decreased after the intervention (P<0.01), while the blood perfusion at the two acupoints significantly increased after intervention (P<0.05); however, the increasement magnitude caused by WCT was obvious compared with JA (P<0.05).

Conclusions

WCT could improve analgesic effects in patients with NT-CS, which might be related to increasing local blood perfusion of acupunct points.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Acupuncture and Massage, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, 300193, China

    Xiang-wen Meng, Ying Wang, Sheng-ai Piao, Wen-tao Lv, Cheng-hui Zhu, Ming-yuan Mu, Dan-dan Li, Hua-peng Liu & Yi Guo

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  1. Xiang-wen Meng
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  2. Ying Wang
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  3. Sheng-ai Piao
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  4. Wen-tao Lv
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  5. Cheng-hui Zhu
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  6. Ming-yuan Mu
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  7. Dan-dan Li
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  8. Hua-peng Liu
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  9. Yi Guo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yi Guo.

Additional information

Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81273673) and Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, Tianjin Health Bureau, China (No. 11027)

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Meng, Xw., Wang, Y., Piao, Sa. et al. Wet Cupping Therapy Improves Local Blood Perfusion and Analgesic Effects in Patients with Nerve-Root Type Cervical Spondylosis. Chin. J. Integr. Med. 24, 830–834 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11655-017-2925-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11655-017-2925-7

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