OBJECTIVETo explore the analgesic effect of electroacupuncture (EA) combined with acupoint-injection in treating lumbar intervertebral disc herniation.

METHODSSixty patients with lumbar intervertebral disc herniation were divided randomly into treatment group (30 cases, group A) and control group (30 cases, group B) according to random digits table. Involved 31 males and. 29 females in the study,the age was from 35 to 62 years with an average of 48.3 years. The patients in group A were treated with EA (once a day, a total of 10 times) and acupoint-injection (once every two days, a total of 5 times) at L4 Jiaji (EX-B2), L5 Jiaji (EX-B2), Zhibian (BL54), Huantiao (GB30), Yanglingquan (GB34), Weizhong (BLA0) and Kunlun (BL60); and the patients in group B were treated with single EA (Once a day, a total of 10 times). After 10 days of treatment, the visual analogue scale (VAS) was adopted to examine and compare the main pain score, and the clinical effects were compared between two groups from the symptoms and signs in accordance with efficacy criteria.

RESULTSThe paregoric effect of group A was better than that of group B, there was significant differences in the main pain score between two groups (t = 7.18, P < 0.01). The clinical effect of group A was better than that of group B,there was significant differences between two groups (u = 2.91, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONEA combined with acupoint-injection is a convenient and highly effective therapy for lumbar intervertebral disc herniation, which can effectively relieve the pain of the patients, should be to promote clinical use.