Abstract

Objective: To observe the clinical therapeutic effect of acupuncture for joint pain of skeletal fluorosis.

Methods: Ninety-six patients with skeletal fluorosis joint pain were randomly allocated to filiform needle group(33 cases), heat needle group (32 cases) and caltrate group(31 cases); the clinical therapeutic effects of three groups were measured by visual analogue scale (VAS) and the physical, emotional and social changes of the patients were recorded.

Results: After treatment, VAS scores of the filiform needle group and the heat needle group were both lower than that of the medicine group(P0.05), and the scores of quality of life(MOS-SF 36) were both lower than that of the medicine group(P0.05).

Conclusion: Acupuncture (filiform needle and heat needle) could effectively relief the joint pain of skeletal fluorosis, and reduce the negative physical, emotional and social changes of patients.The effect of heat needle was swifter than filiform needle and had better effect on intractable pain, but filiform needle had less uncomfortable sense when manipulated, so filiform needle and heat needle could be coordinated with each other when treating joint pain of skeletal fluorosis to get better effect.

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