[Study on distribution characteristics of pressure-sensitive points on body surface around acupoints in patients with chronic non-specific low back pain based on Euclidean distance].

OBJECTIVE

To explore the pain-location interaction between pressure-sensitive points on the body surface and traditional acupoints in patients with chronic non-specific low back pain (CNLBP) under different disease courses, using Euclidean distance and multivariate statistical analysis.

METHODS

A pressure-sensitive point detection was performed on 30 CNLBP patients with varying disease courses. A constant pressure was applied using an FDK20 algometer within a designated lumbar area, a total of 50 points were tested, and the tested points were numbered; the visual analogue scale (VAS) pain score was recorded simultaneously. MatlabR2022a9.12. software was used to extract the positions of pressure-sensitive points, and preprocessing and normalization of point location and VAS scores data were conducted. Under constraint conditions (VAS≥8.0 ∩ Euclidean distance to acupoint≤0.5), the proportion of pressure-sensitive points within the Euclidean distance threshold to each acupoint (PVDacupoint) was calculated, followed by multivariate statistical analysis.

RESULTS

①Constrained analysis of PVDacupoint showed that PVDQihaishu (BL24) and PVDDachangshu (BL25) were positively correlated with disease course (r=0.55, P<0.01). ②Factor analysis and silhouette analysis revealed that PVDShenshu (BL23) and PVDDachangshu (BL25) exhibited trends consistent with disease course progression (P>0.05), with different degree (P<0.01).

CONCLUSION

The PVDacupoint value based on Euclidean distance can characterize the pressure sensitivity features of traditional acupoints associated with disease. Multivariate statistical analysis of PVDacupoint confirms that selecting the acupoint combination of Shenshu (BL23) and Dachangshu (BL25) for CNLBP is associated with the distribution of surrounding pressure-sensitive points and the pathological characteristics of the condition.