To evaluate the clinical effects of ultrasonic drug penetration therapy combined with acupuncture in the treatment of lumbar disc herniation (LDH).

One hundred and forty patients with LDH treated at the Orthopaedics and TCM Department of Beijing Shijingshan Hospital from January 2019 to May 2021 were selected and randomly divided into either a treatment group or a control group, with 70 patients in each group. The treatment group underwent ultrasonic drug penetration therapy combined with acupuncture once a day for 2 weeks, and the control group received routine acupuncture treatment once a day for 2 weeks. The visual analogue scale (VAS) and lumbar Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) scores were calculated before treatment and 2 weeks after treatment. The clinical effect was compared between the two groups.

The VAS score had no statistically significant between the two groups before treatment [treatment group: (7.46±0.54) scores vs control group: (7.40±0.74) scores, P＞0.05]; the score was significantly lower after treatment in both groups [treatment group: (1.73±0.94) scores; control group: (2.75±1.14) scores; P＜0.05], and it was lower in the treatment group than in the control group (P＜0.05). The JOA score had no statistically significant difference between the two group before treatment [treatment group: (14.25±3.86) scores vs control group: (14.15±3.45) scores, P＞0.05]; the score was significantly higher after treatment in both groups [treatment group: (21.04±3.16) scores; control group: (18.88±3.32) scores, P＜0.05], and it was higher in the treatment group than in the control group (P＜0.05). The total effective rate of the treatment group was significantly better than that of the control group (97.14% vs 82.86%, P＜0.05).

Ultrasonic drug penetration therapy combined with acupuncture for LDH can significantly improve the clinical treatment effects.