Electrical Acupuncture Combined Bee Venom Therapy for Pain and Disability Induced Intervertebral Herniated Disc of L-spine;A Pilot Study

To examine the efficacy of electrical acupuncture combined bee venom in controlling low back with leg pain induced Herniated Intervertebral Disc (HIVD). 13 patients (men 8, women 5; age $41.30\;{\pm}\;17.27$) diagnosed as HIVD by CT or MRI had low back and leg pain as a chief complaint and diseases such as spinal tumor, infection and fracture were excluded. They were treated by electrical acupuncture (8 Hz) combined bee venom therapy three times a week in Wonkwang University Hospital, and pain intensity with VAS and functioning with Roland-Morris Disability Qestionnaire(RDQ) were measured at the baseline(B), and 4 weeks after treatment. The data were analyzed with Wilcoxon signed ranks test(SPSS12.0) and the level set for statistical significance was P<0.05. The pain was significantly reduced by two combined treatments (=0.002;$B7.69{\pm}2.06$,4Wks$4.70{\pm}2.72$). The function was also significantly improved by both treatments(=0.001;$B12.15{\pm}6.85$,4Wks$6.85{\pm}5.15$). The results suggest that a combination of acupuncture and bee venom therapy may be beneficial for low back pain from HIVD. In future, randomized clinical trials including follow-up are needed to examine the effects of these therapies.