Advantages of acupuncture for lumbar disc herniation

Lumbar intervertebral disc herniation is a common and frequent disease in the clinics of acupuncture, massage, rehabilitation and orthopedic injury. Its typical symptoms are lumbar pain and lumbar leg pain, and its early clinical manifestations are mainly lumbar pain and sciatica, and its symptoms of lumbar leg pain are often aggravated by walking, standing, sitting and other activities, and can be temporarily relieved after bed rest. It causes great pain to patients and families. The disease is usually seen in young male manual workers, and the age of onset is mostly 20-50 years old. Currently, the treatment of this disease is divided into two kinds of surgical and non-surgical treatment, although the former can somehow effectively solve the patient’s pain in the short term, but the long-term effect is not ideal, and the surgical treatment of this disease has more strict indications. Acupuncture, as an important part of Chinese medicine, is an important and effective non-surgical treatment for lumbar disc herniation. According to years of clinical practice, acupuncture has the advantages of easy operation, low pain, low cost and precise efficacy in the treatment of lumbar disc herniation, which is easily accepted by most patients. First of all, acupuncture treatment has the efficacy of unblocking the meridians, supporting the righteousness and eliminating the evil, harmonizing the yin and yang, moving qi and blood, eliminating swelling and relieving pain. According to Chinese medicine, lumbar disc herniation belongs to the category of lumbar pain, and trauma, strain, cold and dampness, and kidney deficiency are the main causative factors, which are mainly related to the imbalance of qi and blood in the Governor’s vein, bladder meridian and bile meridian. The acupuncture treatment plan developed under the guidance of TCM theory can unblock the qi of the above three meridians and achieve the effect of moving qi, activating blood, reducing inflammation and relieving pain. Modern medical research shows that acupuncture can cause a significant decrease in plasma free 5-HT, the body’s pain-causing substance, and stimulate the body to produce endogenous morphine-like substances to participate in analgesia. If acupuncture treatment can be intervened early, it is more conducive to mobilize the body’s positive factors, and give full play to its effect of opening the meridians and relieving pain, activating blood circulation and removing blood stasis, so as to obtain the effect of opening without pain. Secondly, acupuncture treatment can correct and adjust the poor physiological state of the body, reduce the pressure on the spine, relieve muscle tension and fatigue, restore and maintain the dynamic balance of the body, and reduce the pressure on the intervertebral space, which is conducive to the retraction of the intervertebral discs, thus achieving the purpose of curing the root. Third, acupuncture treatment can act directly on the supraspinous ligament and interspinous ligament, which can enhance the repair ability of the ligaments, play the role of protecting the excessive forward flexion of the spine and resetting the spine, restore the mechanical balance of the spine, change the disordered information channels, and alleviate the pathological reaction caused by the abnormal physiological anatomical position. Fourth, acupuncture treatment can improve the microcirculation around the herniated disc lesion, increase blood flow, and promote the supply of nutrients to the nerve roots of the corresponding segment, thus promoting the elimination of edema in the lumbar tissue space and the contraction of the diseased nucleus pulposus, which can effectively release the compression of the dural sac and nerve roots, and gradually improve the inflammatory state caused by long-term pressure such as congestion and edema and heal. Finally, if acupuncture treatment is used as the main basis, together with tui na, traction, manipulation, Chinese medicine external fumigation, physical therapy, moxibustion and other methods of treatment, it can also significantly improve the clinical efficacy, so that the total effective rate of the disease more than 95%, to achieve the purpose of both primary and secondary treatment, received excellent social effect, bringing gospel for patients with lumbar disc herniation. Chinese medicine comprehensive conservative therapy is a preferred and ideal method for the treatment of lumbar disc herniation.