Objectives : The purpose of this study is to compare the efficacy after acupuncture on local acupoints group and distal acupoints group for chronic neck pain. Design : A randomized, crossover clinical trial.
Methods : From 15st, September 2010 to October 30th, 2010. 20 patients with chronic neck pain were randomly assigned to either group A or group B. Group A received acupuncture at local acupoints then after 1 week washout period acupuncture at distal acupoints. Group B received the treatment in reverse order. To evaluating efficiency and satisfaction, visual analog scale(VAS), neck disability index(NDI), cranio-cervical flextion test(C-CFT) and five-point likert scale were measured before and after each treatment.
Results : Patients in local acupoints group experienced greater improvement than distal acupoints group in VAS. Both local acupoints group and distal acupoints group showed significant improvement in NDI but not in C-CFT and the NDI score change comparison between the two groups had no significance. Local acupoints group showed more effective than distal acupoints group on five-point likert scale.
Conclusions : Local acupoints is more effective than distal acupoints in controlling pain in chronic neck pain.