Abstract
To study changes in pulse diagram parameters (PDP) in patients with cervical spondylosis (CS) before and after acupuncture treatment, explore the characteristics of PDP and the relationship between PDP changes and therapeutic effectiveness, and provide evidence for outcome prediction and objective evaluation of CS treatment before and after acupuncture treatment.Patients with CS were treated with acupuncture and measured with a pulse acquisition device based on image (PADBI) before the first and after the tenth acupuncture sessions. PDP changes from before until after the acupuncture sessions and patient impressions were analyzed to judge the effect of acupuncture treatment.The PDP values in effective patients were closer to normal values. This indicated that Qi stagnation and blood stasis of the patients were improved. The PDP changes from before to after the first acupuncture treatment were more obvious than those from before to after the tenth acupuncture treatment. This result indicates that the speed of symptom improvement decreased significantly after several acupuncture courses. Analysis of correlation between efficacy and PDP showed that the changes in PDP in five patients was abnormal, which mainly manifested as values of h1, u, p, Pp, and t1, and no significant changes or differences were increased with standard values. This indicated that the symptoms of CS were not improved in these patients.PADBI can provide evidence for outcome prediction of acupuncture treatment in patients with CS. PADBI can provide evidence for objective evaluation of acupuncture treatment of CS.
Highlights
Pulse feeling is one of the important diagnostic methods in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for obtaining physiological and pathological information
We found that the pulse diagram parameters (PDP) (h1, u, p, Pp, t1) values were closer to healthy after the tenth treatment in patients whose PDP tended to be healthy after the first treatment
For cervical spondylosis (CS), TCM considers that Qi and blood stasis and arthralgia are the predominant disease changes
Summary
Pulse feeling is one of the important diagnostic methods in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for obtaining physiological and pathological information. The traditional method of pulse feeling with the fingers is subjective and the results can vary from person to person. TCM interventions have been widely used for the management of CS neck pain[5,6,7,8] and acupuncture is one of the most popular managements. Many clinical studies have been conducted to evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture[9,10,11]. Modern medicine has many diagnostic methods for CS, TCM diagnoses mainly rely on auscultation-olfaction, interrogation, and palpation, especially the pulse feeling. Because of differences in understanding and clinical experience in traditional pulse feeling, the objectification of pulse information is more important
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
