Observation on therapeutic effect of acupuncture at Xuanzhong (GB 39) combined with Chinese herbs pyrogenic dressing therapy for treatment of calcaneus spur

OBJECTIVE: To compare therapeutic effects of acupuncture at Xuanzhong (GB 39) combined with Chinese herbs pyrogenic dressing therapy and common acupuncture on calcaneus spur. METHODS: A single-blind, randomized and controlled trial was adopted. Sixty-six cases were randomly divided into an observation group (n=34) and a common acupuncture group (n=32). The observation group was treated with acupuncture at Xuanzhong (GB 39) combined with Chinese herbs pyrogenic dressing therapy and the common acupuncture group with common acupuncture, Yanglingquan (GB 34), Kunlun (BL 60) etc. selected. The markedly effective rate and the changes of heel pain scores, heel swelling scores, heel burning sensation scores, and walking function scores were compared between the two groups before and after treatment. RESULTS: The markedly effective rate of 64.7% (22/34) in the observation group was higher than 37.5% (12/32) in the common acupuncture group (P<0.05). After treatment, all the scores in the two groups were significantly improved as compared with before treatment (all P<0.05), and the observation group was better than the common acupuncture group (all P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The therapeutic effect of acupuncture at Xuanzhong (GB 39) combined with Chinese herbs pyrogenic dressing therapy on calcaneus spur is superior to that of common acupuncture.