Comparison Of The Therapeutic Effect Of Painful Heat Paste And Moxibustion Moxibustion On Primary Dysmenorrhea

Background:Primary dysmenorrhea or functional dysmenorrhea is a common disease amongst female youth. In mild cases, no treatment is required and symptoms can be relieved after rest and fomentation; however in severe cases, where study and daily activities are greatly affected, medical and other forms of treatment are required. In western medical treatment, common treatment methods include the use of prostaglandin synthetase inhibitors, hormones, β-agonists, calcium channel blockers, vitamins, etc; In TCM treatment, decoctions such as the Lesser Abdomen Stasis-Expelling Decoction, Four Agents Decoction, Channel-Warming Decoction, Liver-Regulating Decoction, etc are used. Moxibustion is a TCM external treatment method, which holds an advantage in the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea, as seen in both ancient and modern medical records.The effficacy of traditional moxibustion treatment is definite, but during treatment, the limitation of movement, emission of smoke and the occasion of scalding present problems. Hence, many types of moxibustion substitutes have appeared on the market, of which the "Pain-relieving heat therapy plaster" is user-friendly, smoke-free and has easy temperature control. However there has been no comparative study between the treatment efficacy of the "Pain-relieving heat therapy plaster" and that of traditional moxibustion. Research to determine whether the "Pain-relieving heat therapy plaster" can become a complete replacement of traditional moxibustion is worth performing.Objective: To study clinical efficacy of treatment with "Pain-relieving heat therapy plaster" and traditional moxibustion treatment on patients with primary dysmenorrhea, determining whether the two treatments have significant difference in treatment efficacy, hence providing guidance on clinical usage.Method: 57 patients, aged between 13-35years and within the diagnosis criteria for primary dysmenorrhea were chosen, randomly separated into a treatment group (29 cases) and a control group (28 cases). Treatment commenced 3 days prior to the start of the menstrual cycle, treatment time was 6 hours daily for the treatment group and 40 minutes daily for the control group, treatment continued until the start of the menstrual cycle; clinical observation was done for 3 menstrual cycles, COX Menstrual Symptom Scale(CMSS, table 1) and Visual Analog Scale for pain (table 2) were recorded.Results:1.Age, age of first menstrual period, time of commencement of menstrual pain, degree of menstrual pain, etc in both groups were compared and the results showed no significant difference(p>0.05), implying that both groups had similar pre-treatment baselines, hence relatively good comparability; 2.Pre-and post-treatment CMSS within each group were compared, post-treatment efficacy evaluation yielded p< 0.05, proving that pre-and post-treatment comparison is effective; 3. Comparison of the CMSS scores in both groups yielded p>0.05, proving that there was no significant difference among the treatment efficacy during the first, second and third menstrual cycles;4. Pre-and post-treatment VAS scores were compared within each group,evaluation of post-treatment efficacy resulted in p<0.05, proving that each group had a significant pre-and post-treatment difference;5.VAS (table 2) for both groups were compared, yielding p>0.05, proving that treatment efficacy for first, second and third menstrual cycles showed no significant difference between the two groups.Conclusion: (1)Intra-group comparison:CMSS, VAS scores for pre-and post-treatment within both groups showed a significant difference, proving that both treatment methods were effective for primary dysmenorrhea. (2) Inter-group comparison:Comparison of the treatment efficacy for primary dysmenorrhea of both groups showed no significant difference, proving that treatment efficacy for primary dysmenorrhea of both groups were similar. (3) During moxibustion treatment, large quantities of smoke were emitted, affecting the environment; furthermore, there was 1case of mild scalding during the trial. Hence treatment using the "Pain-relieving heat therapy plaster" can be considered in the future. However within the heat therapy plaster group, there was 1 case of post-treatment menostaxis and 1 case of significant decrease in menstrual bloodflow, so further research needs to be conducted to eliminate interfering factors.