OBJECTIVETo explore the main factors influencing the therapeutic effect of acupuncture on neck pain caused by cervical spondylosis, so as to provide references for further increasing the therapeutic effect of acupuncture.

METHODSOne hundred and six cases were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group, 53 cases in each group. The observation group was treated with routine acupuncture at Dazhui (GV 14), Jingbailao (Ex-HN 15) and Jianzhongshu (SI 15); and the control group was treated with sham acupuncture at 1 cm lateral to Bailao (Ex-HN 15) and Jianzhongshu (SI 15). The needles were retained for 20 min in the two groups and infrared radiation was used for adjuvant treatment in this period. Northwick Park Neck Pain Questionnaire (NPQ) was used to assess the patients' quality of life before and after the treatment. The potential influential factors were analyzed by Logistic regression.

RESULTSThe effective rate was 75.5% in the observation group and 52.8% in the control group with a significant difference between the two groups (P<0.05). The Logistic regression analysis indicated that the therapeutic effect in the observation group was superior to the control group (OR = 2.670), and both the attack frequency and duration of the neck pain will influence the therapeutic effect (OR = 1.055 and OR = 2.446).

CONCLUSIONAcupuncture has a better therapeutic effect on neck pain caused by cervical spondylosis, and patient's clinical history about attack frequency and duration of neck pain are factors influencing clinical therapeutic effect.