OBJECTIVETo compare therapeutic effects of neck clustered needling and medication on insomnia so as to search for a better method for treatment of insomnia.

METHODSSeventy-six insomnia patients were randomly allocated to an acupuncture group and a medication group, 38 cases in each group. The acupuncture group was treated by neck clustered needling, twice each week, 10 sessions constituting one course, and the medication group by oral administration of Alprazolam, before sleeping each day, 5 weeks constituting one course. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) score was used for assessment of therapeutic effects, and the therapeutic effect and changes of PSQI scores before and after treatment were observed in the both groups.

RESULTSThe total effective rate was 92.1% in the acupuncture group and 89.5% in the medication group with no statistically significant difference (P > 0.05). The cured rate of 34.2% and the cured and markedly effective rate of 84.3% in the acupuncture group were significantly higher than 7.900 and 36.9% in the medication group (both P < 0.01). Comparisons of the differences before and after treatment in scores of various factors between the two groups showed that the acupuncture group was better than the medication group in sleep quality, hypnotic use, activity of daily living and the improvement of the total score (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01), but the medication group was better than the acupuncture group in improvement of falling-asleep time (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe therapeutic effect of the neck clustered needling on insomnia is better than that of the medicine.