title: Silver needle therapy for intractable low-back pain at tender point after removal of nucleus pulposus.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the use of a new silver needle therapy for treating tender points involved in intractable low-back pain after removal of nucleus pulposus.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study involved 24 patients (17 men and 7 women) aged 26 to 67 years with a mean age of 54.5 +/- 5 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Department of Orthopedics at the First Military Medical University, the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the General Hospital of PLA in Beijing, and the Department of Acupuncture, the First People's Hospital in Kunming City, People's Republic of China, were the settings for this study.
  
  
  METHODS
  The patients were treated with traditional silver needle therapy at tender points in the low back and buttocks. Pain at each of the tender points was measured before and after treatment; the scores were compared with a Student t test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The therapeutic results suggest that the total scores for each tender point after treatment were significantly lower than those taken before treatment (P <.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Silver needle therapy shows promise for treating low-back pain after surgery for disc herniation. Further clinical trials are needed to confirm the effectiveness of this treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, The First Military Medical University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China. ortho@fimmu.edu.cn
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yi-Kai
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Xueyan
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Fu-Gen
mesh_terms: D015670:Acupuncture Therapy / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007405:Intervertebral Disc Displacement / Q000601:surgery*; D007796:Laminectomy; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009339:Needles; D010147:Pain Measurement; D010148:Intractable Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D012834:Silver; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D012834:Silver