OBJECTIVETo provide a set of the self-help and mutual-aid treatment with moxibustion to deal with myofasicial pain syndrome (MPS) of the back for the military soldiers.

METHODSFifty-eight cases were randomly devided into a moxibustion group (30 cases) and a plaster application group (28 cases). In the moxibustion group, the suspended moxibustion was applied to Yanglingquan (GB 34) for 15 min. The moxibustion massage device was used to massage the pain area. Under the physician's guides, the self-help or mutual-aid treatment was adopted. In the plaster application group, Goupi Gao (a black plaster used in TCM) was used on the local pain area. The treatment was given once every day in either group, lasting for 5 days. The clinical symptom scale, clinical physical sign scale, functional disturbance scale, functional disturbance index, comprehensive economic benefit and the others were adopted to analyze and compare the clinical efficacies between the two groups.

RESULTSBoth moxibustion and the plaster application achieved a certain efficacy on MPS of the back in the soldiers and either of them received the obvious improvements in the clinical symptoms, physical signs and functional disturbance (P < 0.01, P < 0.05). The results in the moxibustion group were superior to those in the plaster application group (P < 0.01, P < 0.05). In terms of the comprehensive economic benefit index, the result in the moxibustion group was better than that in the plaster application group. The total effective rate was 96.7% (29/30) in the moxibustion group and was 35.7% (10/28) in the plaster application group. The efficacy in the moxibustion group was superior to that in the plaster application group (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONThe self-help or mutual-aid treatment with moxibustion achieves the satisfactory clinical efficacy on MPS of the back in the military soldiers. It reduces the conventional medical cost and the military medical expenditure. This therapeutic approach is suitable to be promoted in the military.