Abstract
Objectives : Herniated lumbar intervertebral disc (HIVD) is one of the cause of low back pain and radiculopathy. To evaluate the efficiency of simultaneous administration of herb medicine and non-steroid-anti-inflamatory drugs (NSAIDs), we investigated 48 HIVD patients confirmed by CT or MRI and treated with acupuncture, bed rest, herb medicine, physical therapy and NSAIDs. Methods : The patients were divided into four groups as follows : The A group were 11 cases treated with only herb medicine A. The A+W group were 14 cases treated with herb medicine A and NSAIDs. The B group were 11 cases treated with herb medicine B. The B+W group were 12 cases treated with herb medicine Band NSAIDs. We evaluated the pain degree by visual analog scale (VAS). Results : The mean VAS was reduced to $4.89{\pm}2.62$ after 2 weeks therapy and pain decrease was the most prominent in the group having within a week duration ($3.25{\pm}2.49$). Pain scale was decreased to $4.57{\pm}2.95$ in A+W group, $4.91{\pm}1.97$ in A group, $4.72{\pm}2.68$ in B group, and $5.41{\pm}2.67$ in B+W group after 2 weeks therapy. Conclusions : These results indicate that oriental medical theraphy is useful enough to treat the HIVD patients and herb medicine decrease the pain of the HIVD effectively. Therefore, the more research about herb medicine for pain killing drugs should be done.
