Influence of different courses of electroacupuncture treatment on compliance and therapeutic outcome of patients with cervical type cervical spondylosis: a small-sample randomized controlled trial

Abstract

To investigate the influence of different courses of electroacupuncture treatment on the compliance and therapeutic outcome of patients with cervical type cervical spondylosis. A total of 60 patients with cervical type cervical spondylosis were randomly divided into 5-time treatment group and 10-time treatment group, with 30 patients in each group. With the same electroacupuncture prescription, the patients in the 5-time treatment group were given electroacupuncture once a day for 5 times in total, and those in the 10-time treatment group were given electroacupuncture once a day for 10 times in total, with an interval of 2 days between every 5 times of treatment. The two groups were compared in terms of cervical Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score and treatment score of cervical spondylosis before and after treatment, as well as whether and why the patients were willing to continue treatment after 5 times of treatment. The two groups were followed up to observe the recurrence of cervical spondylosis within 12 months. Both groups had significant improvements in cervical VAS score and treatment score of cervical spondylosis after treatment (P<0.05), and there were no significant differences in these scores between the two groups after treatment (P>0.05). There was also no significant difference in long-term recurrence between the two groups (P>0.05). Of the 30 patients in the 10-time treatment group, 21 (70%) showed no willingness to continue treatment after 5 times of treatment since they were satisfied with their treatment outcomes. Electroacupuncture can effectively improve the pain symptom of patients with cervical type cervical spondylosis, and compared with 5 times of electroacupuncture treatment, 10 times of electroacupuncture treatment may affect patients' compliance with clinical treatment.