International Journal of Pharmacology (IJP) is published by IMR Press from Volume 21 Issue 4 (2025). Previous articles were published by another publisher under the CC-BY licence, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement.
Clinical Efficacy of Heel Vessel Catgut Embedding in the Treatment of Primary Restless Legs Syndrome
1 Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine Rehabilitation, Shanghai Second Rehabilitation Hospital, Shanghai, China
2 Department of Encephalopathy, Shanghai Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China
3 Department of Scientific Research, Shanghai Second Rehabilitation Hospital, Shanghai, China
*Authors contributed equally in this research
Abstract
Background and Objective: Primary restless leg syndrome is a common nervous system syndrome and the effect of drug treatment is not stable having various adverse effects. This study investigated the clinical efficacy of heel vessel catgut embedding in the treatment of primary restless legs syndrome. Materials and Methods: A total of 42 patients with primary restless legs syndrome were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group, with 21 patients in each group. Patients in the observation group were treated with heel vessel catgut embedding therapy, while those in the control group were treated with Madopar for 2 cycles (8 weeks). The two groups of patients were assessed before and after treatment using the International restless legs syndrome rating scale score (IRLS score), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index score (PSQI score), self-rating anxiety scale score (SAS score) and restless legs syndrome efficacy assessment and compared. Results: Compared with pre-treatment data, the IRLS score, PSQI score and SAS score all showed varying degrees of reduction after treatment in both groups (p<0.05); compared with the control group, the IRLS score, PSQI score and SAS score were significantly reduced after treatment in the observation group (p<0.05) and the effective rate by restless legs syndrome efficacy assessment was significantly higher after treatment in the observation group (p<0.05). Conclusion: Heel vessel catgut embedding can effectively improve the clinical symptoms of patients with primary restless legs syndrome, improve patient’s quality of sleep and reduce anxiety.
Keywords
- Restless legs syndrome
- heel vessel catgut embedding
- Madopar
- clinical efficacy
- international restless legs syndrome rating scale score
