Infrared Thermography-based Study of the Warming Effect Difference at Waist

Summary

Low back pain is a common clinical condition, with up to 84% of adults experiencing varying degrees of low back pain. The most common form of low back pain is non-specific low back pain, which is often treated symptomatically in medicine due to its lack of etiology, which has many side effects. In contrast, acupuncture has the advantage of being practical and free of side effects.

The use of acupuncture points in the lumbar region has a long history of application, as early as the《Huangdi Neijing》thousands of years ago. In the Ming Dynasty, there were summaries of the experience of " Yaobei Weizhong Qiu" (Which means the Weizhong point is closely associated with the waist). Weizhong point's efficacy in lumbar diseases (e.g., lumbar disc herniation, lumbago, sciatica, etc.) is still confirmed. One of the mechanisms is closely related to the improvement of microcirculation, which can be visualized by observing changes in infrared thermal parameters. Acupuncture and moxibustion are the most common therapies at Weizhong point, but there is a lack of research on the differences in efficacy between the two. Therefore, this study aims to collect the temperature parameters of the lumbar region in healthy subjects after acupuncture/moxibustion to estimate the difference in the therapeutic effect on the lumbar region, which can help to reveal the effect differences between acupuncture and moxibustion. As well as to provide scientific evidence to enrich the connotation of the classical theory " Yaobei Weizhong Qiu." the investigators will test the following hypotheses:

1. Hypotheses for main effects of different point selection(LU 5 and BL 40)： H1: There is a significant difference in average temperature change at the waist at 30 minutes between the Weizhong(BL 40) group and the Chize(LU 5) group.

H0: There is no difference in average temperature change at the waist at 30 minutes between the Weizhong(BL 40) group and the Chize(LU 5) group.
2. Hypotheses for the main effects of different interventions (acupuncture and moxibustion) H1: There is a significant difference in average temperature change at the waist at 30 minutes between the acupuncture group and the moxibustion group.

H0: There is no difference in average temperature change at the waist at 30 minutes between the acupuncture and moxibustion groups.

Conditions

• Health

Interventions

OTHER

acupuncture

Patients allocated to the acupuncture group will be punctured at the pre-specified acupoints. According to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine and clinical experience, we will use the Bilateral Weizhong point (BL 40). Because of the similar anatomy, the Chize point (LU 5) was chosen as a control. Sterile disposable stainless steel acupuncture needles (length: 40 mm, diameter: 0.25 mm; Hwato, Suzhou, China) will be used.

OTHER

moxibustion

Moxibustion Participants in the moxibustion group will receive moxibustion treatment via portable Moxibustion (Aikeshu, Bozhou, China); the moxibustion is composed of The inner tube (containing the moxa pillar) and the outer tube. To use, pull out the inner tube and light the moxa pillar, then insert the outer tube and fix the moxibustion on the acupuncture points. Two Moxibustion devices will be sequentially applied at two acupoints Weizhong (BL 40) and Chize (LU 5), for 30 minutes.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• The Third Affiliated hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Yi Liang, PhD · The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medicial University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

60 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2023-04-14

Primary Completion

2023-06-25

Completion

2023-06-25

Countries

• China

Study Locations