Department
Health Promotion
Document Type
Article
Publication Source
Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Publication Date
2013-12-01
Volume
2013
Article Number
543174
Abstract
In order to explore the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) for chronic bowel and bladder dysfunction after traumatic spinal cord injury, 14 patients were treated with electroacupuncture once a day, five times a week for the first four weeks, and once every other day, three times a week for the following four weeks. The patients were then followed up for six months. After treatment, four (4/14, 28.57%) patients resumed normal voiding; six (6/14, 42.86%) resumed normal voiding for no less than half of all micturition behaviors; four (4/14, 28.57%) required supplementary urination methods for higher than half of all micturition behaviors. These effects persisted during followup. Mean postvoid RUV decreased by 190.29 ± 101.87 mL (P < 0.01) after treatment and by 198.86 ± 112.18 mL (P < 0.01) during followup. Patients' weekly urinary incontinence frequency decreased 7.14 ± 46.34 times/week (P = 0.036) after treatment and decreased 49.86 ± 44.38 times/week during followup. After treatment, four (4/14, 28.57%) patients resumed normal bowel movements (P = 0.025); five (5/14, 35.71%) reduced the dependence on supplementary defecation methods; five (5/14, 35.71%) had no changes. In patients with chronic bowel and bladder dysfunction after traumatic SCI, EA may provide a valuable alternative tool in improving patients' self-controlled bowel and bladder functions with minimal side effects. © 2013 Zhishun Liu et al.
DOI
10.1155/2013/543174
Recommended Citation
Liu, Zhishun; Wang, Weiming; Wu, Jiani; Zhou, Kehua; and Liu, Baoyan, "Electroacupuncture improves bladder and bowel function in patients with traumatic spinal cord injury: Results from a prospective observational study" (2013). Articles & Book Chapters. 288.
https://digitalcommons.daemen.edu/faculty_scholar/288
https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/543174
Comments
© 2013 Zhishun Liu et al.
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.