Korean Journal of Acupuncture

Society for Meridian and Acupoint (경락경혈학회)
권호 표지

Study on methodology about clinical effect of single point acupuncture in patients with hypertension

단일경혈을 이용한 침의 임상효과에 관한 방법론 연구 - 고혈압 환자를 중심으로 -

  • Son, Yang-Sun (Dept. of Meridian & Acupoint, College of Oriental Medicine, Kyunghee University) ;
  • Yeo, Soo-Jung (Dept. of Meridian & Acupoint, College of Oriental Medicine, Kyunghee University) ;
  • Kim, Yoon-Ju (Dept. of Meridian & Acupoint, College of Oriental Medicine, Kyunghee University) ;
  • Park, You-Sun (Dept. of Meridian & Acupoint, College of Oriental Medicine, Kyunghee University) ;
  • Lim, Sabina (Dept. of Meridian & Acupoint, College of Oriental Medicine, Kyunghee University)
  • 손양선 (경희대학교 한의과대학 기초한의과학과 경혈학교실) ;
  • 여수정 (경희대학교 한의과대학 기초한의과학과 경혈학교실) ;
  • 김윤주 (경희대학교 한의과대학 기초한의과학과 경혈학교실) ;
  • 박유선 (경희대학교 한의과대학 기초한의과학과 경혈학교실) ;
  • 임사비나 (경희대학교 한의과대학 기초한의과학과 경혈학교실)
  • Received : 2012.01.27
  • Accepted : 2012.02.24
  • Published : 2012.03.27
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Abstract

Objectives : This study was conducted to investigate effective treatment point selection method using oppressive pain in acupoints as elementary attempt for standard methodology of clinical acupuncture studies. Methods : Twenty seven subjects with hypertension or within prehypertension category - systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP) over 120/80mmHg - were divided into two groups, oppressive pain point treatment group and oppressive painless point treatment group. In oppressive pain point treatment group, single point acupuncture (SPA) was conducted for 16 sessions during 8 weeks on most oppressive painful point among 6 selected acupuncture points used in previous trials and clinic. As a SPA intervention, 15 minutes with deqi sensation- elevating manipulation was conducted on the treatment acupoint. Same process was conducted in oppressive painless point treatment group on most oppressive painless point with subject blinding. Results : Significant reduction was observed in both systolic and diastolic BP after short time intervention (15.5/8.8 mmHg, 10.7/7.1 mmHg, P<0.05, respectively at 1 week) and maintained for 8 weeks intervention period in all groups (12.8/8.0 mmHg, 19.4/12.6 mmHg, P<0.05, respectively). No significant difference of BP change between oppressive pain point treatment group (N=10) and oppressive painless point treatment group (N=9) was observed during 8 weeks study period. Conclusions : SPA treatment as used in this pilot study was effective for lowering BP in mild hypertensive population, but oppressive pain in acupoint had no effect on treatment. This present result suggests the possibility of SPA for hypertension treatment regardless of oppressive pain.

Keywords

References

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