title: Integrative TCM Conservative Therapy for Low Back Pain due to Lumbar Disc Herniation: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial.
abstract: Low back pain due to lumbar disc herniation (LDH) is very common in clinic. This randomized controlled trial was designed to investigate the effects of integrative TCM conservative therapy for low back pain due to LDH. A total of 408 patients with low back pain due to LDH were randomly assigned to an experimental group with integrative TCM therapy and a control group with normal conservative treatment by the ratio of 3 : 1. The primary outcome was the pain by the visual analogue scale (VAS). The secondary outcome was the low back functional activities by Chinese Short Form Oswestry Disability Index (C-SFODI). Immediately after treatment, patients in the experimental group experienced significant improvements in VAS and C-SFODI compared with the control group (between-group difference in mean change from baseline, -16.62 points, P < 0.001 in VAS; -15.55 points, P < 0.001 in C-SFODI). The difference remained at one-month followup, but it is only significant in C-SFODI at six-month followup (-7.68 points, P < 0.001). No serious adverse events were observed. These findings suggest that integrative TCM therapy may be a beneficial complementary and alternative therapy for patients with low back pain due to LDH.
authors.affiliation: Shuguang Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors.forename: Wei An
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Shi Rong
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Wu Quan
authors.initials: WQ
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Xiao Bing
authors.initials: XB
authors.lastname: Xi
authors.forename: Ming Cai
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Ling Jun
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Hong Sheng
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Zhan
authors.forename: Ying Wu
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Cheng