A novel acupuncture for killing lumbago: Immediate effects of balancing acupuncture for acute lumbar disc herniation

[Purpose] This study aimed to evaluate the immediate effects of Balancing acupuncture as adjuvant therapy for patients with acute lumbar disc herniation (ALDH). [Method] We recruited 47 patients with ALDH in Orthopedic therapy center of Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine in China. McGill pain questionnaire (MPQ) and clinical effects of Balancing acupuncture were measured. [Results] We found that no case showed clinical cure, 42 cases showed improvement, while 5 cases showed ineffectiveness, indicating an improvement rate of 89.4%. Immediate MPQ total score after Balancing acupuncture was lower than before treatment, which showed a statistical significance between them (P=0.0000<;0.05). Differences in PRI, VAS, and PPI reached statistical significance (P<;0.05). A statistically significant difference was found in Pain perception score before and after treatment (P=0.0125<;0.05), while pain emotion score failed to reach statistical significance (P=0.6983>0.05). [Conclusions] The results suggested that Balancing acupuncture may lead to immediate benefits for patients with ALDH.