Objective To systematically review the effectiveness and safety of heat-sensitive moxibustion(HSM)therapy in the treatment of lumbar disc herniation(LDH).Methods Papers of randomized clinical trials(RCTs)concerning the effectiveness and safety of HSM therapy for LDH published in both Chinese and English before November 17

2015 were collected from PubMed

EMBase

Cochrane library

CNKI

CBM

WanFang Data and VIP databases according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria and by using key words of"thermal moxibustion""heat-sensitive acupoint""lumbar intervertebral disc herniation(LIDH)""lumbar disc herniation(LDH)"and "lumbago backache"

followed by screening

data extracting and methodological quality assessing.Then

the Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3software.Results Twenty RCTs were included eventually

containing a total of 1 861 cases treated by HSM therapy in the treatment of LDH patients.The Meta-analysis shows that the effectiveness and safety of HSM therapy for LDH are superior to those of other therapies

which is drawn from total effective rate of treatment group[RR=1.13

95%CI(1.09

1.18)

P<0.001]

M-JOA score[MD=-3.17

95%CI(-3.88

-2.47)

P<0.001]

M-JOA score difference of various subgroups:daily life ability effect difference [MD=1.04

95%CI(0.44

1.64)

P<0.001]

subjective effect symptoms difference[MD=0.58

95%CI(0.23

0.92)

P=0.001]

objective effect symptoms difference[MD=1.12

95%CI(0.58

1.65)

P<0.001]

VAS score [MD=-1.17

95%CI(-1.78

-0.57)

P<0.001]

the recurrence rate[RR=0.54

95%CI(0.37

0.80)

P=0.002]

and no adverse reactions mentioned in the reported results.The sensitivity analysis showed a greater homogeneity in literature and the results were stable

but funnel plot analysis showed a publication bias.Conclusion The HSM therapy is effective and safe in the treatment of LDH patients.