Participants were recruited from two areas in southern Taiwan: the traditional Chinese medicine outpatient clinics at Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital and Kaohsiung Municipal Siaogang Hospital, as well as community-based traditional Chinese medicine clinics. Individuals interested in participating were interviewed in the research office on the same day. The inclusion criteria were: (1) women aged 50-65 years and (2) low back pain lasting longer than 12 weeks.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
DOUBLE
Enrollment
70
The experimental group received auricular acupressure at the Shenmen, Sympathetic, Subcortes, and Lower Back Points for four weeks.
the control group received auricular acupressure at the Stomach, Mouth, Duodenum, and Tonsil points for four weeks.
100 Shih-Chuan 1st Rd.
Kaohsiung City, Sanmin District, Taiwan
The Chinese Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire
The questionnaire consists of 24 self-reported items assessing the impact of low back pain on daily functioning. Each item is answered as either "Yes" or "No," with "Yes" scored as 1 and "No" scored as 0. Higher total scores indicate greater functional disability.
Time frame: Baseline(T0), immediately post-intervention (T1), 2-week follow-up (T2), and 4-week follow-up (T3).
Brief Pain Invetory- Taiwan Form, BQT, BPI-T
The scale consists of two sections with a total of 11 items. The first section, pain severity, consists of four items that assess the severity of pain in individuals with low back pain. The second section, pain interference, consists of seven items that assess the extent to which pain interferes with daily functioning. Each item is rated on an 11-point numeric rating scale ranging from 0 to 10, with 0 indicating no impact and 10 indicating extreme impact. Scores of 1-4 indicate mild severity, scores of 5-6 indicate moderate severity, and scores of 7 or higher indicate severe severity. Higher scores indicate greater pain severity or greater interference with daily functioning.
Time frame: Baseline(T0), immediately post-intervention (T1), 2-week follow-up (T2), and 4-week follow-up (T3).
the Greene Climacteric Scale
The scale consists of 21 items that assess the severity of menopausal symptoms experienced during the past month. Each item is rated on a 4-point scale: 0 indicates "not at all," 1 indicates "occasionally," 2 indicates "frequently," and 3 indicates "all the time." The total score is calculated by summing the scores across all domains. Higher scores indicate greater severity of menopausal symptoms.
Time frame: Baseline(T0), immediately post-intervention (T1), 2-week follow-up (T2), and 4-week follow-up (T3).
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