Objective To compare the therapeutic effect on postmenopausal osteoporosis（PMOP） between Lingnan Chen’s needling technique and calcitriol soft capsules and investigate the effect mechanism in view of serum growth hormone（GH） and insulin-like growth factor-1（IGF-1）.Methods Seventy patients of PMOP were randomized into an observation group（35 cases

4 cases dropped off） and a control group（35 cases

3 cases dropped off）.The patients of both groups were treated with calcium carbonate D3 tablets orally（600 mg each time

once daily）.In the observation group

acupuncture was delivered at Shenshu（BL 23）

Pishu（BL 20）

Guanyuan（CV 4）

Sanyinjiao（SP 6）

etc.with the specific reinforcing-reducing technique and qi-conducting technique of Lingnan Chen’s acupuncture

once every two days

three times a week.In the control group

calcitriol soft capsules were taken orally

0.25 μg each time

twice a day.The intervention measures of two groups all lasted 12 weeks.Before and after treatment

the bone mineral density（BMD）

the levels of serum GH and IGF-1were assessed in two groups.Before treatment and 4

8 and 12 weeks after treatment

TCM symptoms score and the MOS item short form health survey（SF-36） score were evaluated and the therapeutic effects were compared between groups.Results In both within-group and between-group comparisons

the difference in BMD was not significant before and after treatment（P>0.05）.After treatment

the levels of serum GH and IGF-1 were increased in the observation group（P<0.05）

and higher than the control group（P<0.05）.After 4

8 and 12 weeks of treatment

the scores of TCM symptoms were reduced in both groups compared with those before treatment（P<0.05）

and the score in the observation group was lower than that in the control group（P<0.05）.After 4

8 and 12 weeks of treatment

except the score of general health 4 weeks after treatment in the control group

the scores of the other domains in SF-36 were increased in both groups compared with those before treatment（P<0.05）.After 12 weeks of treatment

except the score for the general health and social functions

the scores of the other domains of SF-36 in the observation group were all higher than those in the control group（P<0.05）.The total effective rate was 83.9%（26/31） in the observation group

higher than 59.4%（19/32） in the control group（P<0.05）.Conclusion Lingnan Chen’s needling technique is effective on postmenopausal osteoporosis.This therapy may relieve the symptoms of osteoporosis and improve the quality of life

better than calcitriol soft capsules

and the effect mechanism may be related to the up-regulation of serum GH and IGF-1 in the patients.