Umbilical Acupuncture Combined with Warm Needle Acupuncture for the Treatment of Residual Numbness after Lumbar Disc Herniation Surgery: A Protocol of a Randomized Controlled Trial

Kaihua Song ¹ Jiayue Cheng ¹ Yuming Wang ¹ Yang Shen ¹ Chenxin Jiang ¹ Shouhai Hong ^2*

• ¹ Zhejiang University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hangzhou, China
• ² First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China

Background: Post - operative residual numbness after lumbar disc herniation (LDH) surgery is common. Existing drug and physical therapies for it are not very effective. Acupuncture helps with LDH, but there are few reports on treating post - operative numbness. Electroacupuncture (EA) is often used. The hypothesis is that the combination of umbilical acupuncture (UA) and warm needle acupuncture (WA) might be more effective than EA alone, providing a better non - pharmacological treatment for persistent numbness. Objective: This proposed trial aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of UA (umbilical acupuncture) combined with WA (warm needle acupuncture) in treating residual numbness after LDH surgery. To verify the hypothesis that the combined method is superior to traditional electroacupuncture.Methods: This proposed study is a single-center, single-blind, prospective, randomized controlled trial (RCT) involving patients with LDH who were hospitalized and underwent percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy (PELD) at our hospital.Patients meeting the inclusion criteria will be randomly assigned to either the treatment group (umbilical acupuncture combined with warm needle acupuncture) or the control group (electroacupuncture). The participants will be assessed on the first day after surgery, and acupuncture treatment will begin on the second day and continue for three consecutive days, with each session lasting 30 minutes. After that, the treatment mixture was changed three times a week for four weeks. All patients received standard Western medical drug treatment. After the treatment is concluded, a six-month follow-up will be conducted. The primary efficacy indicator will be the visual analog scale (VAS) score for numbness. The secondary efficacy indicators will include the 10 g monofilament test, 40 g pressure acupuncture sensation examination, Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA) score, lower limb electromyography (H-reflex differences, F-wave conduction velocity, and latency), VAS score, traditional Chinese medicine symptom scoring, and Short Form 36-Health Survey (SF-36) score. Any adverse events occurring 2 during the trial will be recorded. The data will be analyzed according to a predefined statistical analysis plan.Discussion: This trial seeks to establish a novel, noninvasive protocol that promotes early rehabilitation for patients with numbness after LDH surgery-a domain where existing therapies fall short.