[Changes in upper limb meridian detection and correlation analysis in patients with cervical radiculopathy]

To explore the difference in upper limb meridian detection between patients with cervical spondylotic radiculopathy(CSR) presenting radicular symptoms and healthy individuals using a meridian detection system,and to investigate the potential correlation thereof.

From July 2024 to November 2024,30 patients with unilateral sensory disturbance due to CSR who underwent meridian detection were enrolled as the CSR group. Meanwhile,30 healthy adults were selected as the healthy group. In the CSR group,there were 12 males and 18 females,aged from 20 to 61 years;in the healthy group,there were 13 males and 17 females,aged from 26 to 75 years. A TCM meridian detector was used to measure the upper limb meridian body surface resistance of both CSR patients and healthy adults. Changes in meridian detection values were compared between two groups. Combined with the visual analogue scale(VAS) and Tanaka Yasuhisa cervical spondylosis symptom score,Spearman correlation analysis was applied to explore the correlation between upper limb meridian detection values and VAS as well as Tanaka Yasuhisa scores.

The VAS of the CSR group was 4.50 (3.75,6.00) points,which was significantly higher than that of the healthy group 1.00(0.00,2.00) points,with a statistically significant difference (Z=-6.522,P<0.001). The total Tanaka Yasuhisa cervical spondylosis symptom score of the CSR group was 13.00(9.00,15.00) points,which was significantly lower than that of the healthy group 19.00(18.75,20.00) points,with a statistically significant difference(P<0.05). The ratio of upper limb meridian body surface resistance between the two sides(L/H value) in the CSR group was 0.788±0.067,which was significantly lower than that in the healthy group(0.929±0.053),with a statistically significant difference (t=9.091,P<0.05). In the CSR group,the L/H value was negatively correlated with VAS (r=-0.753,P<0.05) and positively correlated with Tanaka Yasuhisa score (r=0.795,P<0.05).

Abnormalities in upper limb meridian detection were observed in CSR patients with radicular symptoms. However,due to the limitation of sample size,future studies could be designed to investigate on a larger scale whether changes in meridian detection levels can be used for preliminary diagnosis of the disease,evaluation of treatment efficacy,and serve as a relatively objective and easy-to-operate TCM evaluation index for assessing the severity of radicular symptoms in CSR,which is worthy of further research.