Acupoint Frequency In The Treatment Of Herniated Lumbar Disk , Lumbar Radiculopathy , And Mechanical Low Back Pain Richard

Background Yamamoto New Scalp Acupuncture (YNSA) is an acupuncture microsystem used for treating pain and dysfunction. To date, there has not been a large-scale study of the use, acupoint frequency, or location of YNSA in the treatment of various diagnoses of back pain. Objective To determine the location frequency of YNSA Basic and Ypsilon points. Design, Setting, and Patients A retrospective 2-year study of 115 successive patients seen at a private practice who received YNSA: 22 lumbar herniated nucleus propulsus (HNP) cases, 38 lumbar radiculopathy (LR) cases, and 55 somatic dysfunction/low back pain (LBP) cases. Intervention All patients received osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) for identified somatic dysfunction and if pain persisted, YNSA was used. Main Outcome Measure Location and frequency of YNSA acupoints to achieve pain relief. Results A total of 115 patients with back pain had a mean average of 3.17 visits. Ypsilon points most commonly used were Yin of YIN, 86.4%, and the least common were Yang/YANG, 1.6%. The most common Basic points were YIN D1-6, 11.14%, and most common Ypsilon points were left Yin of YIN GB, 3.65%. This treatment approach resulted in mean visits per patient of HNP: 5.27, LR: 2.42, and LBP: 1.82. Conclusions The use of YNSA and OMT for low back pain resulted in immediate pain relief with a minimum of needles. YNSA should be further studied for this application.