• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.716-723
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to investigate the change in blood velocity(mm/sec) when compression and/or heat were applied to the knee joint for the elderly who has both normal and painful legs with osteoarthritis(OA). Experimental compression knee band was prepared from the 3D knee data of the average women in 60's. 3D replica of knee was reduced by 7, 10, and 13% from the nude pattern in course direction. Clothing pressure was measured at the front and back of each healthy and painful knee of elderly women for one minute while standing and sitting on the chair. Blood velocity was measured at 13 cm upper from the mid-patella for 15 minutes. Results are as follows: first, compression or heating treatment itself did not change blood velocity of both legs; second, combination treatment with heating and compression was effective to increase blood velocity. In details, for healthy legs, combination treatments with compression by 10% reduced pattern(about 1.3kPa) and heating($43^{\circ}C$) induced the maximal blood velocity, however, for knees with OA, 7% reduced pattern(about 1.0kPa) with simultaneous heating($43^{\circ}C$) was more effective than other cases. These results indicated that pain and spasticity of knee joint with OA could be reduced by applying heat and compression therapy, where the compression level of painful knee should be slightly lower than of healthy leg.

• Journal of Naturopathy
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.26-32
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• 2021

Purpose: At acupoint pressure, the pressing direction of all acupoints is usually vertical. However, it is not clear whether the vertical direction is toward the belly button or the body's center in the BL52. In this study, the effective direction of acupressure was studied by measuring the pressure pain threshold according to the direction of acupressure in 30 subjects. Methods: The distance from the subject's GV4 to the left and right BL52 and the distance from GV4 to the navel were measured, and then using the ellipse where the left and right BL52 of GV4 pass through the navel, the angles of the navel direction and the body's center were calculated in the left and right BL52. The pressure at the time when the subjects felt pain while pressing the BL52 in two directions was used as the acupressure pain threshold. The pain threshold was measured 3 times at 3 minute intervals on the left and right BL52s of the subject. Results: The acupressure pain threshold measured in the left and right BL52 of the subjects was significantly decreased when pressed toward the trunk center (p < .05). In BL52, it was more sensitive to pressure when the direction of pressure is toward the body's center. Conclusions: Acupressure therapy of acupoint is more sensitive to external stimuli than the surrounding. In this study, acupressure directed toward the trunk center is more efficient than toward the belly button in BL52.