AIM: To observe the short and long-term curative effect of rehabilitation unit therapy on the patients with lumbar disc protrusion (LDP). METHODS: (1) Forty LDP in- and outpatients were selected from Department of Rehabilitation, Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Drugs of Jilin Province between January 2006 and February 2007, including 22 males and 18 females, aged 26 to 62 years with 2 days to 3 years illness history. They were randomly divided into treatment group and control group. The former group was treated according to the procedure of rehabilitation unit treatment (interferential current, traction, combination chirismus and ultrashort wave), while the control group was treated by the traditional chirismus and traction therapy. (2) The lumbar disease scoring system of the Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA) was used to evaluate the function of the lumbar; the visual analogue scale (VAS) to appraise the condition of the soreness, and the clinical curative effect and recurrence of two groups were observed before, at the end of and 10 months after treatment. RESULTS: All 40 patients were involved in the result analysis. (1) Compared with the control group, the clinical cure rate of the treatment group was higher (p < 0.01). The total efficacy of treatment group was 95%, while the control group was 85%. (2) There was no significant difference of scores of VAS in two groups before treatment. But the scores in treatment group were lower than the control group after treatment (p < 0.01). (3) There was no significant difference in scores of JOA in two groups before treatment. But the scores in treatment group were increased compared with control group after 10 months treatment (p < 0.05). (4) No recurrence was found in treatment group after 10 months treatment, but 4 cases reported in control group. (5) The scores of lumbar function in two group were not significantly different after treatment immediately (t = +1.86, p > 0.05), but the movement range of treatment group was increased compared with control group (p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Rehabilitation unit therapy has a satisfying curative effect on the treatment of LDP patients in the amelioration of clinical symptoms, the relief of pain, and the increase in lumbar movement range. This therapy decreases the treating time, increases the long-term curative effect, reduces the recurrence rate, and has a good compliance rate.

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