In order to observe the effect of electro-acupuncture on the lumbar spondylosis, electro-acupuncture stimulation was done by dense-sparse pulse train with positive, 5Hz frequency in sparse and 50 ㎐ frequency in dense at five second intervals, intensity 0.5-3.0 volts, pulse width 0.1 ms, and 20 minutes of induction time. The Pain suppressive effect of electo-acupuncture treatment was studied in 50 patients, who were treated from Sep. 1987 until Jun. 1988 in the Dept. of Acupuncture & Moxibustion, Oriental Medical Hospital, Dae Jeon University. The results are as follows.
1. The sex distribution showed approximately four and half fold female predominance with 41 female(82%) to 9 male cases(18%). In age distribution, 41 cases(82%) were over 50 years old. The mean age was 58.3 years old.
2. In the duration of symptoms, acute stage was 30%, most acute and chronic stage 26%, subacute 18%. 74% of the total was within 6 months.
3. In the past history of the low back pain, 36 cases(72%) had a history of the low back pain, but 24 cases(28%) was the first attack.
4. The contributing factor was reason unknown in 38%, lumbar strain in 22%, overwork in 18%, both of slip down and simple movement in 10%.
5. The prevalent site of pain was lumbosacral area in 60%, low back pain with radiating pain in 38%, lower limb pain in only 2%.
6. The occurence rate of the pain according to the position was in order of standing-up, walking, sitting and sideward lying, upright standing. The pain was mainly caused by a action.
7. Lumbar flexion and extension, percussion tests were mostly propotionally in physical examinations. 11 cases(22%) were negative in all the tests.
8. Spur formation was the most common finding on plain L-S spine X-ray.
9. Grade II was the most frequent grade in the pain grade at the first diagnosis.
10. The effectiveness of electro-acupuncture treatment was evaluated at follow-up as follows; Excellent in 14 cases(28%), Good in 10 cases(20%), Fair in 18 cases(36%), and Poor in 8 cases(16%). The rate of improvement was 84.0%.
11. The effectiveness according to duration of symptoms showed that acute stage was more effective than chronic stage. The rate of improvement according to pain grade and age was no difference between each other.
12. The mean number of electro-acupuncture treatment in improving patients was 11.02 times, and 4.2 to 5.8 times for improvement of grade I(one degree).
13. 75% of poor results was treated 3 times under mean number of treatment. Therefore it was thought to be able to be improved by continuous treatment.
|