Effects of different moxibustion durations on lumbar disk herniation: a clinical study

Abstract Objective To explore the best duration of moxibustion on lumbar disk herniation (LDH). Methods A total of 88 patients were randomly divided into control group and 15-min, 30-min, and 45-min moxibustion groups. The control group was treated with conventional therapy, while the other 3 groups were intervened with different moxibustion durations. Low back pain, dysfunction, lumbar function, and effective rates were evaluated before, in the first week and second week of intervention. Results In low back pain, compared with the control group, the score of the 15-min group had no significant difference, but it was significantly lower in the 30-min and 45-min groups. In dysfunction and lumbar function, compared with the control group, the scores of the 15-min, 30-min, and 45-min groups were significantly higher, and the scores of the 30-min and 45-min groups were significantly higher, but there was no significant difference between the 30-min and 45-min group. In effective rates, there was no significant difference between the control group and 15-min group; the effective rates of the 30-min and 45-min groups were significantly higher than those of the control group. Conclusions Moxibustion has good therapeutic effect on LDH with specific moxibustion time.