Clinical Effect of Wrist-Ankle Acupuncture Combined with Taiyi Ding Tong San External Application in the Treatment of Acute Gouty Arthritis

doi:10.16458/j.cnki.1007-0893.2025.13.019

Abstract：Objective: To investigate the clinical effect of wrist-ankle acupuncture combined with Taiyi Ding Tong San external application in the treatment of acute gouty arthritis (AGA). Methods: A total of 60 patients with AGA admitted to Luohu District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Shenzhen from January 2024 to January 2025 were selected as the study subjects and randomly divided into an observation group and a control group, with 30 cases in each group. The control group received conventional Western medicine treatment, while the observation group received wrist-ankle acupuncture combined with external application of Taiyi Ding Tong San on top of the control group's treatment. The clinical efficacy, TCM syndrome scores before and after treatment, musculoskeletal ultrasound semi-quantitative scores, and incidence of adverse reactions were compared between the two groups. Results: The total effective rate of the observation group was higher than that of the control group, with a statistically significant difference (P < 0.05). After treatment, the TCM syndrome scores of the observation group were all lower than those of the control group, with statistically significant differences (P < 0.05). After treatment, the musculoskeletal ultrasound semi-quantitative scores of the observation group were also lower than those of the control group, with statistically significant differences (P < 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the overall incidence of adverse reactions between the two groups (P > 0.05). Conclusion: Adding wrist-ankle acupuncture combined with external application of Taiyi Ding Tong San to routine oral Western medicine treatment for AGA can enhance clinical effectiveness, better improve clinical symptoms such as redness, swelling, pain, and limited joint mobility, reduce musculoskeletal ultrasound semi-quantitative scores, and does not increase adverse reactions.