Comparative study of two integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine treatment methods on treatment compliance of patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy

Introduction
This study aims to compare the treatment satisfaction and compliance of two integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine methods for diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) patients with cold coagulation and blood stasis.

Material and methods
A total of 120 patients with cold coagulation and blood stasis type of distal symmetric polyneuropathy (DSPN), the most common form of diabetic neuropathy, were selected from the urology department of a hospital and randomly divided into a control group (60 patients), who were given external medicinal liquid application with Tangbiling（Magic Diabetic Arthralgia Treating Paste) herbs, and an observation group (60 patients), who were treated with modified Tangbiling herbs (Tangbiling herbs mixed with mud moxibustion substrate) for external medicinal liquid application. Both groups were treated with a TDP therapeutic apparatus at the same time as the external medicinal liquid application. After three courses of treatment (14 days/course of treatment), the efficacy was evaluated by the score of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and the questionnaires were used to compare the treatment compliance of the two groups.

Results
After the external medicinal liquid application with modified traditional Chinese medicine, the moulding and cleaning degree of TCM and the symptoms of the two groups were improved. The effective rate of the observation group was 91.7%, which was higher than the control group (86.7%). The compliance of the observation group was higher than the control group, and the differences were statistically significant (p < 0.05).

Conclusions
The external medicinal liquid application with modified Tangbiling herbs improved the treatment compliance and satisfaction of DPN patients and effectively improved the symptoms of pain and numbness in the lower limbs of patients, which is worth promoting.