Abstract

Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease affecting the central nervous system with no current cure. This study aimed to investigate the clinical efficacy and safety of acupuncture and tuina combined with traditional Chinese medicine in patients with multiple sclerosis. A randomized controlled design was employed, with 120 multiple sclerosis patients divided into two groups, with 60 patients in each group. The treatment group was treated with acupuncture, massage combined with Chinese medicine Wendan decoction and the control group was treated with Western medicine. The treatment period was 12 w, with sessions 3 times per week. The primary outcome measure was the multiple sclerosis functional composite and secondary outcome measures included bladder function score, self-rating depression scale, quality of life score and the incidence of adverse events. The results showed that the treatment group performed significantly better than the control group in terms of multiple sclerosis functional composite, bladder function score, self-rating depression scale and quality of life (p<0.05). The incidence of adverse events in the treatment group was 6.67 %, which was significantly lower than the 18.33 % in the control group (p<0.05). In conclusion, acupuncture and tuina combined with traditional Chinese medicine demonstrated favorable clinical efficacy and safety in multiple sclerosis patients, improving neurological function, bladder function, mood and quality of life.