Electroacupuncture for the Subacute Stage of Lumbar Disc Herniation: A Randomized Controlled Trial Protocol with EEG

This study aims to elucidate the central mechanisms of electroacupuncture (EA) for subacute lumbar disc herniation (LDH) using electroencephalography (EEG). To our knowledge, this is the first study to apply EEG to characterize the neurophysiological correlates of EA treatment in this specific clinical condition.

In this randomized controlled trial, a total of 66 patients with subacute lumbar disc herniation (LDH) will be enrolled from the Departments of Acupuncture and Orthopedics. Participants will be randomly allocated at a 1:1 ratio to either an EA group or a sham EA group, resulting in 33 participants per group. The primary outcomes are the clinical efficacy rate and the Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score. Secondary outcomes include the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for pain. Clinical outcomes will be assessed at baseline, two weeks, four weeks (end of treatment), and at a three-month follow-up. The neuroimaging outcome is EEG. EEG data will be collected at baseline and at the four-week endpoint, with analyses focusing on core parameters such as power spectral density (PSD) analysis, time-frequency analysis, and microstate analysis.

This study will verify the clinical efficacy of electroacupuncture in treating subacute LDH and explore its core central mechanisms using EEG technology. We anticipate that the expected improvements in clinical outcomes (eg, JOA, ODI, and VAS scores) will significantly correlate with the normalization of aberrant neural oscillations-specifically, a reduction in theta power and restoration of alpha activity. Such findings would provide direct neuroimaging evidence for EA's central neuromodulatory role, offering a mechanistic basis for its broader clinical application in the treatment of LDH.