• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• 제30권3호
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• pp.185-192
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• 2013

Objectives : Many studies have investigated the electric specificity of meridian and acupoint. However, the definition about the real substance of 'Ki(Qi)' that flows in the meridian has not been established yet. The authors hypothesized that the 'Ki(Qi)' may be the very 'bioelectricity' of western medicine, from two common features that they are not visible with naked eyes and that they function in the living body only. Methods : 20 healthy adults participated in this study. Heart rate was measured before and after exercise. Acupuncture was performed at PC6 immediately after exercise with counter balance in the first experiment. In the second experiment, acupuncture group was further divided to the three groups, i.e. glove acupuncture group, manual acupuncture group, and NaCl acupuncture group. In the glove group, acupuncturist put on the two folds of latex gloves to block bioelectric currents between the acupuncturist and subject. In the NaCl group, acupuncturist had his fingertips wet with NaCl solution. Results : Exercise increased Heart Rate and acupuncture at PC6 inhibited this increase. In the second experiment, the significant difference compared to the comtrol group was the most in NaCl acupuncture and the least in Glove acupuncture. However, there was no significant difference between three groups. Conclusions : The results of this study seem to be deficient as a conclusive evidence for the hypothesis that the 'Ki(Qi)' of Korean Medicine is the 'bioelectricity' of western medicine.

• 한방재활의학과학회지
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• 제30권1호
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• pp.79-93
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• 2020

Objectives While sciatic neuropathy is one of the common symptoms which have the lifetime incidence of 13~40%, still there is no consensus about the standardized and the most effective conservative treatment. In addition, the importance of systematic review and meta-analysis of preclinical are growing as they could suggest possible effective treatment strategy for future studies. Therefore, we conducted systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate analgesic effect of acupuncture on sciatica in rat models. Methods Systematic search was conducted for all controlled comparative preclinical trials which assessed analgesic effect of acupuncture in sciatica rat models. Database of PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, CNKI and 6 Korean databases were used. The primary outcome was pain, which is evaluated by stimulus behavior tests in rat models. We assessed the methodological quality with Systematic Review Centre for Laboratory Animal Experimentation's risk of bias tool. RevMan 5.3 was used for meta-analysis and subgroup analysis was conducted according to treatment site, acupuncture point, treatment period and frequency used in electroacupuncture. Results 14 studies were finally included following our inclusion criteria. The data from meta-analysis indicated that the acupuncture significantly improved the result values of behavior tests for pain evaluation, compared to no-treatment control group in animal models (standardized mean difference=4.43, 95% confidence interval 3.16 to 5.69, Z=6.84, p<0.00001; χ²=68.02, p<0.00001; I²=82%). The results of subgroup analysis indicate that acupuncture treatment of unilateral site, distal acupoints, longer treatment period and applying 2/100 Hz frequency in electroacupuncture could be more effective. Conclusions Systematic review and meta-analysis of animal studies are getting important for the future clinical studies and the improvement of heatlh care. Therefore the results of the study would provide evidence and better design for the forthcoming studies.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• 제32권3호
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• pp.99-107
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• 2015

Objectives : This study was designed to obtain basic data for a further large-scale trial as evaluating the efficacy and safety of Geochangmanryeung-dan(GMD) and acupuncture on patient with spinal stenosis treated by epidural steroid injection. Methods: The study is a randomized controlled pilot clinical trial, conducted over 8 weeks. Twenty participants will be recruited and randomly allocated to 2 groups: an experimental(GMD and acupuncture with epidural steroid injection) group and a control(only epidural steroid injection) group. The epidural steroid injection will be administered once per 2 weeks for 6 weeks(3 times in total). GMD will be administered as a dose of 5 pills, 3 times per day, for 6 weeks. Acupuncture will be performed 2 times per week for 6 weeks(12 times in total). The primary outcome will be measured by visual analogue scale and self-rated walking distance. The secondary outcome will be measured by PainVision, short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire, and Oswestry Disability Index. Both primary and secondary outcomes will be measured at baseline, 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks. The last assessment(at 8 weeks) will be performed 2 weeks after treatment cessation. Conclusions : This clinical trial, as the pilot study for a future large-scale trial, will provide clinical information for evaluating the efficacy and safety of GMD and acupuncture treatment in combination with epidural steroid injection for the treatment of spinal stenosis.

• 대한한의학회지
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• 제36권1호
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• pp.1-8
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• 2015

Objectives: This study is aimed to develop a Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) on acupuncture treatment for the patients with post-stroke spasticity. Methods: Experts committee, consisting of stroke or methodology specialists, searched Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and 19 Korean medicine journals. The search terms were selected to screen the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or systematic reviews for the effectiveness of acupuncture on post-stroke spasticity, compared with placebo or conventional group. Levels of evidence and grades of recommendations were appraised based on Recommendations for Development of Clinical Practice Guideline in Korean Medicine. Results & Conclusions: One systematic review and 7 RCT were included to build the CPG. There was a strong evidence to support the effectiveness of electroacupuncture treatment for post-stroke spasticity. However, it did not show any sufficient evidence to treat the patients with post-stroke spasticity with the sole acupuncture. The moderate evidence was presented that over 3 times of the electroacupuncture treatments with 1-100 Hz frequency should be performed every week on the acupoints, such as LI11, LI10, TE5, LI4, ST36, GB34, ST40, or LR3, for 20-30 minutes. It was also suggested that the procedure should begin at the acute stage just after the vital signs of the patients are stabilized. Finally, there was a moderate evidence to support safety of acupuncture treatment for post-stroke spasticity.

• 대한암한의학회지
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• 제22권2호
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• pp.1-11
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• 2017

Objectives: Postoperative pain is one of postoperative complications in patients with solid tumor. This systematic review and meta-analysis were aimed to evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture for postoperative pain in solid tumor. Methods: We searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) using acupuncture for postoperative pain in adult patients with solid tumor up to September 2016. Acupuncture was defined as manual acupuncture, electroacupuncture and pharmacopuncture. The following databases were searched: PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, CNKI, CiNii, KoreaMed, Kmbase, KISS, NDSL, KISTI. The results of the studies were meta-analyzed and the risk of bias was assessed. Results: Five studies were included in this review. When acupuncture was compared with usual care, Prince-Henry pain scale score was significantly lower in acupuncture group (MD=-0.44, 95% CI: -0.62 to -0.26, P<0.001, $I^2=87%$) and 10 points pain score (including Numeric Rating Scale and Visual Analog Scale) was lower in acupuncture group but not significantly (MD=-1.00, 95% CI: -2.00 to -0.00, p=0.05). When acupuncture was compared with sham acupuncture, 10 points pain score was significantly lower in acupuncture group (MD=-0.39, 95% CI: -0.65 to -0.14, p=0.002, $I^2=0%$). Any serious adverse events were not reported. Conclusion: This review shows that acupuncture may be considered for postoperative pain in patients with solid tumor without serious adverse events. However, only a few studies were included in this study, further investigation is needed in this area.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• 제23권5호
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• pp.219-228
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• 2006

Objectives : To observe the effect of acupuncture treatment on Digital Infrared Thermographic Imaging(DITI) in frozen shoulder patients. Methods : 17 voluntary patients received acupuncture treatment on LI15, TE14, GB21 and Master Dong's acupuncture points, Shin-gwan and Gyun-joong, twice a week for 4 weeks. The patients were instructed to practice self exercise during their daily lives. Evaluations were made before treatment, after 1 week of treatment, after 2 weeks, 3 weeks and after 4 weeks of treatment. Constant Shoulder Assessment(CSA), Shoulder Pain and Disability Index(SPADI), Range of Motion(ROM) and the patient's satisfaction concerning the treatment was measured by Visual Analogue Scale(VAS). DITI was measured before treatment and after 4weeks of treatment. The obtained data was analyzed. Results : CSA, SPADI, VAS, adduction and extension showed significant(p<0.05) improvement. Abduction and flexion both improved after 4 weeks of treatment, but the improvement was statistically insignificant(p>0.05). DITI showed improvement but the improvement was insignificant(p>0.05). Conclusion : 4 weeks of acupuncture treatment significantly improved CSA, SPADI, VAS, adduction and extension in frozen shoulder patients(p<0.05). The improvement of abduction and flexion after 4 weeks of acupuncture treatment was insignificant(p>0.05). DITI results improved after 4 weeks of acupuncture treatment. But the change of thermal difference was insignificant(p>0.05).

• 대한한방체열의학회지
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• 제5권1호
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• pp.69-77
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• 2006

Purpose : There are many patients with cold hypersensitivity who want oriental medicine treatment. But there has been no study of acupucture treatment effect on patients. So we examined effects of acupuncture treatment at different acupuncture points and compared results of 1st cold stress test and 2nd cold stress test. Method : 8 patients with hand cold hypersensitivity applied for this study. To rule out an bias, we excluded the patients with skin diseases, spinal nerve disease of cervial spine, external wounds. We measured body temperature with D.I.T.I. We performed cold stress test(CST) by 6 thermographic observation using D.I.T.I ; the 1st was taken after 15 minutes-resting, the 2nd was immediately taken after 1 minute soak in $20^{\circ}C$ water, the 3rd was taken at 10 minutes after the soak, and after a week, the 4th was taken after 15 minutes resting, the 5th was immediately taken after 1 minute soak in $20^{\circ}C$ water, the 6th was taken after 10 minutes with acupunture treatment. There were two groups of patients. First group was acupuncture that performed acupuncture therapy on distal points. Second group was acupuncture that performed acupuncture therapy on proximal points. We compared first CST and second CST recovery rate result. Results : The recovery rate at distal points acupuncture therapy was higher than before of that. but not significantly different. The recovery rate at proximal points acupuncture therapy was significantly higher than before of that. The recovery rate of both the back, the palms, all fingers of after proximal acupuncture therapy was significantly higher than before of that. Conclusions : Acupuncture could be effective therapy method on cold hypersensitivity, especially using proximal acupuncture points could be good at cold hypersensitivity patients. This was pilot study of very small samples, results had limitations. For further results more examine would be needed.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• 제30권3호
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• pp.101-107
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• 2013

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to investigate the correlation between acupuncture therapy on knee osteoarthritis and BMI. Methods : Data on assessment measurements of knee osteoarthritis and obesity were obtained from 31 patients suffering from knee osteoarthritis from May, 2011 to September, 2012. The assesment measurements consisted of body mass index(BMI), visual analogue scale(VAS) and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities(WOMAC) index. Statistical correlations among assessment measurements were evaluated by examining the Pearson's correlation coefficients. Results : 1. The average age of all patients was $58.87{\pm}9.48$(male : $63.67{\pm}11.34$, female : $57.72{\pm}8.86$). 2. The average BMI of all patients was $25.41{\pm}3.06kg/m^2$. According to clinical definition of obesity by Korean Society for the Study of Obesity, 25.81% of all patients was within normal weight, 25.81% was overweight, 38.71% was obesity and 9.67% was morbid obesity. 3. There were no significant correlations in statistics among assessment measurements. Conclusions : There is significant correlation between knee osteoarthritis and obesity according to many clinical and experimental researches. So more studies on correlation between knee osteoarthritis and obesity and development of assessment measurement are needed.

• 혜화의학회지
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• 제18권1호
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• pp.19-28
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• 2009

Objectives: This study was conducted to help clinical studies for treating Functional Dyspepsia with acupuncture. We inspected tendency of studies of acupuncture treatment for functional dyspepsia and analyzed the assessing instrument for it by scrutinizing Pubmed recent publications. Materials and Methods: We inspected 8 theses and scrutinized their objectives, periods, participants, materials and methods, the instrument of assessment for the studies, and criteria and symptom score for questionaire, results and JADAD score. Results: 1. Most studies were published by oriental doctors except one which was published by an American doctor. More and more studies are being published in America and written in English recently. So it is considered that western doctors think that the acupuncture treatment is useful as unorthodox medicine for functional dyspepsia. 2. Among the 4 clinical studies, 2 studies were RCT and 1 study was not RCT and 1 study with vagueness. All 4 clinical studies were not double-blinded because they were about comparison between acupuncture treatment and medicine. 3. ST36, PC6, CV12, BL21 were chiefly used, and auricular point, ST40, SP6 were also used. Manual acupuncture were used in 2 studies, and low frequency pulse and electroacupuncture were used in other studies respectively. 4. 4 clinical studies used 0~3 points symptom score as the instrument of assessment. Additional assessments were on gastric emptying time, EGG and plasma level of motilin. All thesis were not verified of validity and reliability. 5. Among the 4 reviewed thesis, 2 theses were about acupuncture as one of the various treatment of functional dyspepsia, and the other 2 theses were about efficacy of acupuncture treatment. And the result generally showed effectivity of acupuncture treatment. Conclusion: Acupuncture treatment for functional dyspepsia is considered useful as in unorthodox medicine by western doctors, and it is necessary to provide objective instrument for assessing acupuncture treatment for functional dyspepsia.

• 한방안이비인후피부과학회지
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• 제33권3호
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• pp.45-68
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• 2020

Objectives : This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of manual and electroacupuncture on glaucoma. Method : We searched 11 electronic databases using index words to identify randomized clinical trials. Meta-analysis of weighted mean difference (WMD) or standardized mean difference (SMD) were used to evaluate the outcomes. Cochrane bias risk assessment tool was used to assess the risk of bias in each clinical study. The collected data was analyzed using RevMan software (ver. 5.3). Results : At the initial stage of data retrieval, 549 papers were searched. After reviewing 37 full texts, a total of 10 RCT studies (426patients, 715 eyes) were selected and 8 RCT studies (357 people, 617 eyes) were involved in meta-analysis. Meta-analysis of 8 RCTs showed that acupuncture alone was more effective in reducing intraocular pressure(IOP) than conventional treatment (WMD = -5.73, 95% CI: [-12.30, 0.83], P = 0.09, I² = 97%) The combination of acupuncture or electroacupuncture with conventional treatment was also effective in lowering IOP (WMD = -1.84, 95% CI: [-2.31, -1.37], P <0.00001, I² = 45%). It was estimated that the combination of acupuncture with conventional treatment was also effective for improving visual field (VF) (WMD = -2.17, 95% CI: [-4.32, -0.02], P = 0.05, I² = 89%) but improvement in visual acuity (VA) was not significant (MD = 0.06, 95% CI: [-0.03, 0.15], P = 0.23, I² = 0%). Subgroup analyzes were performed only for the studies that used open glaucoma as the study's disease and combination of acupuncture or electroacupuncture with conventional therapy would have an effect on lowering intraocular pressure (WMD = -1.68)., 95% CI: [-2.46, -0.90], P <0.0001, I² = 29%). Conclusion : This study suggests that acupuncture treatment for glaucoma may be effective in reducing intraocular pressure and helpful in improving visual field defects. However, due to the small sample size, high risk of bias and high heterogeneity in the methodology, it is expected that further studies will be needed to verify the results. Further studies in large-scale samples based on a minimized biased methodology would be necessary.