Abstract:

Objective To evaluate the clinical effect of press needle embedded in back⁃shu points of five zang and Geshu（BL 17）in the treatment of insomnia. Methods A total of 66 patients with insomnia were randomized into press needle group and drug group. The press needle group was treated with press needles at back⁃ shu points of five zang and Geshu（BL 17）. The needle was embedded for 1 day，and the treatment was per⁃ formed 3 times per week. The drug group took 1 mg Estazolam tablet orally every night. Both groups were treated for 4 weeks. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index（PSQI）was used before and after the treatment. The adverse reactions were recorded in the two groups. Results After the treatment，the total score of PSQI and the score of each factor of the two groups were lower than those before the treatment（P < 0.05）. The score reduction of sleep latency in the drug group was greater than that in the press needle group（P < 0.05），and the daytime dysfunction score reduction in the press needle group was greater than that of the drug group（P < 0.05）. The total effective rate of the needle group was 80.00%，and that of the drug group was 72.41%，showing no statistical significance（P > 0.05）. During the treatment，there were less adverse reactions in the press needle group. Conclusions Pressing needle embed⁃ ded in back ⁃ shu points of five zang and Geshu（BL 17）can improve the sleep of insomniacs，and its efficacy is equivalent to that of estazolam. Eestazolam may be more helpful with sleep latency but pressing needles may be more effective in improving daytime function. 

Key words:

"> insomnia, press needle, back?shu points of five zang, Point BL 17（Geshu）, estazol? am, pittsburgh sleep quality index（PSQI）