To investigate the clinical effect of buccal acupuncture on the patients with pain and functional limitation after posterior lumbar interbody fusion based on the concept of enhanced recovery after surgery.Methods:The medical records of 47 patients who underwent posterior lumbar interbody fusion in the Dongzhimen Hospital of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine from October 2020 to March 2021 were collected for a retrospective study.The patients were assigned into an observation group(n=26) and a control group(n=21) according to the treatment methods.The control group received celecoxib at a dose of 200 mg/qd，and the observation group additionally received buccal acupuncture at 30 min/qd.The visual analogue scale(VAS) score，Japanese Orthopaedic Association(JOA) score，interleukin-6(IL-6)，white blood cell count(WBC)，neutrophil count(NE)，and C-reactive protein(CRP) were compared between the two groups on days 1，3，and 7 after operation.Results:On day 7 after operation，the mean VAS score of the observation group was lower than that of the control group(P<0.05)，and the JOA score was different between the two groups(P<0.05).On day 3 after operation，the WBC，NE，CRP，and IL-6 showed differences between the two groups(P<0.05).On day 7 after operation，the observation group had lower CRP and IL-6 than the control group(P<0.05).Conclusion:The observation group outperformed the control group in restoring the scores and indicators.Buccal acupuncture can effectively alleviate postoperative pain and inflammatory response and helps to reduce or eliminate the physical and mental impairment of patients with early functional exercise.This therapy is in accordance with the concept of enhanced recovery after surgery.Moreover，it is characterized by low cost and simple acupoint selection，and thus is worthy of promotion in clinical practice.