A 3-Arm, Randomized, Controlled Trial of Heat-Sensitive Moxibustion Therapy to Determine Superior Effect among Patients with Lumbar Disc Herniation

Table 2

Comparison of M-JOA scores.

Variable	Week 2			Month 6
	Mean (SD)		95% CI	Mean (SD)		95% CI
Group A	3.8 (2.6)		3.4~4.2	3.7 (2.2)		3.3~4.1
Group B	7.9 (3.0)		7.4~8.4	8.9 (3.1)		8.4~9.4
Group C	8.5 (2.9)		8.0~9.0	10.1 (2.9)		9.5~10.6
Comparison between the three groups
𝐹 value		3.8			5.2
𝑃 value		0.016			0.008
Group A versus Group B
𝑞 value		4.1			5.9
𝑃 value		0.022			0.013
Group A versus Group C
𝑞 value		5.1			6.7
𝑃 value		0.017			0.002
Group C versus Group B
𝑞 value		2.0			3.2
𝑃 value		0.146			0.041

Comparison between the three groups by ANOVA test. Pairwise comparison for the two groups by Student-Newman-Keuls (𝑞-test). All data are intended to treat. Each group 𝑛 = 152. SD: standard deviation; M-JOA: Improvement Japanese Orthopedic Association (M-JOA) Lumbago Score Scale; SD: standard deviation; LDH: lumbar disc herniation; Group A: Heat-sensitive moxibustion group; Group B: Conventional moxibustion group; Group C: Conventional drug plus acupuncture group.