[Treatment of Occipital Neuralgia by Electroacupuncture Combined with Neural Mobilization]

To observe the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) combined with neural mobilization (NM) in the treatment of occipital neuralgia.

A total of 62 occipital neuralgia patients were randomized into EA group (19 cases), NM group (22 cases) and EA＋NM group (21 cases). EA was applied at acupoint-pairs as Yuzhen (BL 9)- Tianzhu (BL 10), Fengchi (GB 20)- Wangu (GB 12), etc. NM intervention consisted of occipital muscle group mobilization, C₂ spinous process mobilization, cervical joint passive movement management mobilization, etc., was performed at the impaired cervical spine segment. The two methods were used in combination for patients in the EA＋NM group. All the treatment was given once a day for 2 weeks. Before and after treatment, the visual analogue scale (VAS) and the 6-point (1－6 points) behavioral rating scale (BRS-6) of headache were used to assess the severity of pain. The therapeutic effect was evaluated according to the "Criteria for Diagnosis and Cure-Improvement of Clinical Conditions" formulated by State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of the People's Republic of China in 1994.

After treatment, both VAS and BRS-6 scores were significantly lower than those before treatment in each of the three groups (P<0.05), and were significantly lower in the EA＋NM group than in the simple EA and simple NM groups (P<0.01,P<0.05). The total effective rates were 78.95% (15/19) in the EA group, 68.18% (15/22) in the NM group, and 90.48% (19/21) in the EA＋NM group, with an obviously better therapeutic effect being in the EA＋NM group relevant to each of the other two treatment groups (P<0.05).

EA, NM and EA combined with NM can improve symptoms of patients with occipital neuralgia, and EA＋NM has a synergic analgesic effect for occipital neuralgia.