Clinical analysis of traditional Chinese medicine acupuncture treatment of pain in patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy

Objective: To investigate the clinical efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN). Methods: The clinical data of 96 patients with DPN were retrospectively analyzed. Among them, 46 patients received routine treatment (the control group) and 50 patients received acupuncture treatment in addition to conventional treatment (the observation group). A visual analog scale (VAS) was used to evaluate the pain symptoms; the Toronto Clinical Scoring System (TCSS) was used to evaluate the symptoms, the deep sacral reflex and the sensory function of the right toe; a nerve conduction velocity measurement device was used to detect the motion and sensory nerve conduction velocity of the median nerve and the common peroneal nerve; and the total effective rate before and after treatment was compared. The SF-36 scale was used to score the quality of life and bodily pain (BP) before and after treatment. Results: The VAS and TCSS scores of the observation group were significantly lower than those of the control group (P < 0.05). The motor nerve conduction velocity and sensory nerve conduction velocity of the median nerve and common peroneal nerve in the observation group were significantly higher than the scores in the control group (P < 0.05). The total effective rate of the observation group was significantly higher than that of the control group (P < 0.05). The BP scores of the quality of life in the two groups were significantly higher than the scores before treatment (P < 0.05). The BP score of quality of life in the observation group was significantly higher than in the control group (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Acupuncture treatment of DPN can effectively reduce the VAS and TCSS scores, improve the motor nerve and sensory nerve conduction velocity of the median nerve and the common peroneal nerve, alleviate the patient's somatic pain, and effectively improve the patient's quality of life and total treatment efficiency. This provides certain new ideas and theoretical references for the treatment of DPN, and is worthy of clinical promotion.