Objective To systematically evaluate the clinical efficacy of topical preparations of Mongolian medicine Manggari hot compress therapy (hereafter referred to as Manggari hot compress therapy) in treating cervical spondylotic radiculopathy (CSR) and explore the possible pharmacological material basis in the formula, providing evidence for the clinical application of Mongolian medicine in the treatment of CSR.

Methods The clinical trial employed a randomized, controlled, open-label, and outcome-assessor-blinded design. The CSR patients who were treated at the Department of Traditional Therapeutics Outpatient Clinic, Xilinguole Meng Mongolian General Hospital between July 1, 2024 and August 31, 2025, were enrolled. They were randomly assigned to three groups: an oral control group (administration of oral administration of mecobalamin tablets combined with cervical electric traction), an experimental group (Manggari external hot compress), and a patch control group (flurbiprofen gel plaster). The intervention lasted two weeks. Before and after treatment, the following subjective indicators were recorded: Mongolian Medicine Syndrome (MMS) score, Visual Analog Scale (VAS) score, Northwick Park Neck Pain Questionnaire (NPQ) score, and tongue morphology. Serum levels of inflammatory markers tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-1β) and oxidative stress markers malondialdehyde (MDA) content, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Overall therapeutic efficacy was evaluated. One month after treatment completion, a follow-up assessment was conducted, and the MMS, VAS, and NPQ scores were recorded again for all patients. For the pharmacological substance exploration, ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-Q-exactive orbitrap-mass (UHPLC-QE-MS) was employed to analyze blood-absorbed prototype components of Manggari, under both positive and negative ion modes. The targeting relationship between the core active compounds and the target protein was validated using molecular docking.

Results This study ultimately included 90 patients with CSR for analysis. Baseline characteristics showed no statistically significant differences among the three groups (P > 0.05). (i) Symptom scores. After treatment, the MMS, VAS, and NPQ scores decreased significantly from baseline in all three groups (P < 0.001). At follow-up, there was no significant difference in MMS, VAS, and NPQ scores of the experimental group compared with those at the end of the treatment (P > 0.05). After treatment, the experimental group showed significantly greater reductions in MMS, VAS, and NPQ scores than oral control and patch control groups (P < 0.001). At follow-up, these differences remained significant (P < 0.001). (ii) Inflammatory and oxidative stress markers. After treatment, serum levels of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β, and MDA activity decreased significantly from baseline in all three groups (P < 0.001), and SOD content and GSH-Px activity increased significantly from baseline (P < 0.05). After treatment, the experimental group had significantly lower serum levels of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β than oral and patch control groups. Additionally, it exhibited lower MDA activity and higher SOD content and GSH-Px activity compared with the two control groups. (P < 0.05). (iii) Overall efficacy. The total effective rate was 93.33% in the experimental group, 86.66% in the oral control group, and 83.33% in the patch control group. (iv) Pharmacological substance analysis. A total of 152 compounds were identified in the blood-absorbed components of Manggari. Among them, the core compounds—4-hydroxycoumarin, N-methylanthranilic acid, genistein, and ginsenoside-Rk1—showed binding energies to the key target proteins TNF-α and IL-1β range from − 4.7 to − 7.1 kcal/mol, with the majority of the binding energies being below − 5.0 kcal/mol, suggesting that it generally has a good binding affinity.

Conclusion Mongolian medicine hot compress therapy effectively modulates inflammatory and oxidative stress responses through the combined action of its thermal effects and active pharmaceutical ingredients Manggari. It inhibits cervical nerve root inflammation and alleviates radicular pain, improving clinical symptoms, reducing pain severity, and alleviating neck functional disability.