• Journal of Korean Orthopaedic Sports Medicine
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.22-27
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• 2010

Many people in these days participate in running as leisure due to urbanization and socio-economic development. Running is a simple exercise but it can induce its own specific injury pattern because of its repetitive motion. Most runners' injury is caused by chronic overuse syndrome rather than acute trauma. And common accompanying injury in running are anterior knee pain syndrome, Iliotibial band syndrome, stress fracture, plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendinitis, posterior tibial tendon syndrome. Most common area of runners' injury is knee joint. Therefore the authors reviewed the recent literatures and described the classification, etiology, prevention, rehabilitation in this article.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.23-41
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• 2011

Objective: The number of patients with chronic pain has increased over the past several decades. Seventy-eight percent of people over 60 in Korea suffer from many kinds of pain. This study was aimed to understand the current state of Oriental medicine for pain treatment. Method: We surveyed 415 Oriental medical doctors with items including rate of patients with pain, methods of diagnosis and of treatment. We also reviewed previous studies evaluating the effect of Oriental medicine for pain treatment. Results: About 85% doctors said that more than half of their patients have pain symptoms. The most common pain types were sprain and lower back pain. Diagnosis method depended on the pain type, but in all pain types, acupuncture treatment was the most used. In the result of review of previous studies, acupuncture treatment seemed to be effective for several pain symptoms, such as sprain and knee pain. However, the effect of Oriental medicine was controversial in most pain treatments. Conclusion: Oriental medicine is used a lot for pain treatment. However, many more mechanism studies and clinical trials should be conducted to establish the evidence.

• Biomaterials and Biomechanics in Bioengineering
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.27-35
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• 2016

Anterior knee pain is a major problem among adolescents and young adults especially those who participates in sports. The most common pathogenesis of anterior knee pain can arise from compression and shear forces in the patellofemoral joint. It is also caused by impingement of infrapatellar fat pad. Fat pad impingement can occur when the fat pad becomes swollen and inflamed due to a direct blow or chronic irritation. As a result, the bottom tip (or inferior pole) of the patella can pinch the fat pad. One of the many causes of swollen fat pad can be secondary to anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. The aim of this study was to compare the infrapatellar fat pad volume in patients with acute ACL injury and a group of age-, gender-, and activity- matched controls with intact ligament. Axial magnetic resonance (MR) images have been performed on 32 patients with torn ACL and 40 control patients. The volume of the fat pad was measured digitally from MR image by using a 3d Reconstruction software, ellipsoidal approximation, and a MATLAB code. The results were compared between patients with torn ACL and control group. Patients with a torn ACL had a significantly larger fat pad than the controls (P=0.01). There was no significant difference between the methods used to measure the infrapatellar fat pad volume (P=0.83-0.87). Thus, lesions of the infrapatellar fat pad is often associated with ACL injury.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.36-41
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• 2013

Purpose: To investigate whether the long-term use of a cane induces pain in the unaffected lower limb of stroke patients. Methods: A total of 107 stroke patients with chronic hemiparesis were recruited in this study and classified into two groups; a cane-use group (n=49) and non-cane-use group (n=58). The existence of pain in the unaffected lower limb was assessed on a visual analog scale in the hip, knee, and ankle joint, and the University of Alabama pain behaviors scale (UAB pain behavior scale) used to measure the intensity of pain. In addition, the Motricity Index (MI) was tested in the upper and lower extremities. Results: The proportion of pain in each joint of the lower limb was significantly higher in the cane-use group, compared to the non-cane-use group (p<0.05). In addition, significant differences were observed on the UAB pain behavior scale between the two groups. The lower MI score was significantly lower in the cane-use group, compared with the control group. However, no difference was observed in MI scores of the upper limb between the two groups. Conclusion: These findings reveal that long-term cane usage can induce pain in the unaffected lower limb of stroke patients. We suggest careful consideration when prescribing a cane, depending on functional ability in hemiparetic patients, and recommend continuous evaluation for pain in the affected lower limb.

• Journal of Naturopathy
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.53-62
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• 2019

Purpose: To investigate the healing effect of 21 patients with chronic back pain, shoulder pain, and knee arthritis by a Qigong. Methods: The study performed by hand injection of a Soojung Qi-therapy. Results: Ten patients (47.6%) had low back pain, eight (38%) had frozen shoulders, and three (14.3%) had knee arthritis. Satisfaction after five times of the Qi-healing was 72% in those who returned to normal and 14% in those who improved. When the maximum pain level set at 5.0, the difference between before and after healing was 3.33 in arthritis subjects, 3.75 in fifty shoulder subjects, and 3.80 in low back pain. In general, the degree of pain decreased as the number of healings increased. In particular, even after the first healing, the pain reduction of the subjects was high in arthritis, frozen shoulders, and low back pain. That is, there was a possibility of controlling pain with only one Qi-healing. Conclusions: Soojung Qi-therapy is one of the natural healing treatments because it reduces fast pains and accessible to handling anytime and anywhere. Conclusions: With Qi-therapy, arthritis, frozen shoulder, and lumbago patients almost recovered to their original shape. Therefore, Qi-therapy regarded as one of the useful natural healing therapies.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.19-24
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• 2004

The purposes of this study were to analyze gait patterns of patients with chronic lumboscaral radiculopathy and to investigate gait parameters which can reflect a functional deficit in relation to the level of lumbosacral radiculopathy. The study population consisted of 25 patients of chronic lumbosacral radiculopathy and 25 healthy control subjects. Conventional physical examinations and three-dimensional gait analyses were performed on all participants. The data were analyzed using an independent sample t-test. The results were as follows: (1) In the patients' group, cadence, walking velocity, stride length and double support time were less than in the control group (p<.05). (2) In the patients' group, maximum flexion of hip, maximum flexion of loading response, maximum flexion of swing phase on the knee and maximum plantar flexion of pre-swing were less than the control group (p<.05). Using three-dimensional gait analysis, we could identify specific gait parameters to reflect a functional deficit related to the level of lumbosacral radiculopathy.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.132-141
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• 2022

Objectives : Some acupoints are commonly utilized to treat a variety of diseases. The acupoints appear to have a wide range of effects caused by several mechanisms. The purpose of this study is to investigate into the potential role of microRNAs (miRNAs) in the multipotent effects of individual acupoint stimulation. Methods : We examined the miRNA expressions in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) of neuropathic or inflammatory pain rats following ST36 and GB34 electroacupuncture (EA) stimulation. Neuropathic pain was induced by L5 spinal nerve ligation. Inflammatory pain was induced by knee joint injection of Complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA). EA was given under gaseous anesthesia with the same parameters (1mA, 2Hz, 30 min) in 5 consecutive days. Pain behaviors and miRNA expressions were analyzed. Results : In rats with neuropathic and inflammatory pain, EA treatments significantly enhanced the paw withdrawal threshold and weight-bearing force. After nerve injury, 36 miRNAs were upregulated in the DRG of neuropathic rats, while EA downregulated 10 of them. Furthermore, 14 miRNAs were downregulated following nerve damage, while one was increased by EA. 15 miRNAs were increased in the DRG of inflammatory rats following CFA injection, while 5 were downregulated by EA. Furthermore, 17 miRNAs were downregulated following CFA injection, while 7 were increased by EA. The miRNAs rno-miR-335, rno-miR-381-5p, rno-miR-1306-3p, and rno-miR-1839-3p were regulated by EA in both models. Conclusions : In two pain models, EA applied to ST36 and GB34 regulated miRNA expression differently. There appeared to be both acupoint-specific and non-specific miRNAs, and miRNA regulation of differential protein expression may modulate a variety of EA mechanisms.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.109-119
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• 2019

Background : Germany is the first country in the world to introduce modern systems of public health insurance, and the country which most widely uses complementary alternative medicine(CAM) in Europe. In early 21^st century, a large evaluation studies were conducted to include acupuncture in health insurance payments, which were eventually decided. Objectives : This study is to investigate and analyze the process of public policy determination on insurance coverage for acupuncture in German health insurance system. Methods : We collected the data and information through the literature search and from the websites of German government departments and health insurance organizations. To obtain contextual information, German experts of health insurance and acupuncture clinical study were interviewed. Results : As use of acupuncture had been growing, German public health insurers wanted to evaluate the validity of acupuncture coverage and sponsored three evaluation projects for clinical effectiveness of acupuncture using randomized clinical trials, systematic reviews, and pragmatic trials from 2001 to 2005. For some pain condition, acupuncture was founded not to be effective than sham acupuncture, but more effective than standard care. The federal joint committee of health insurance decided to cover acupuncture for chronic pain of lumbar spine and chronic pain in at least one knee joint due to gonarthrosis. Conclusions : Considering the controversial subject matter in the process of acupuncture's health insurance coverage in Germany, expanding the benefits of Korean medicine in Korea needs to come up with ways to overcome the difficulties of placebo effect, standardization and lack of literature evidence.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.57-63
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• 2012

Background: The number of old people with degenerative osteoarthritis one of the chronic disease, were constantly increased. Many researchers have made a great effort to verify the effects of ultrasound and laser therapy in degenerative osteoarthritis treatment. This study applied ultrasound-laser integration therapy on knee joint degenerative osteoarthritis and compared its effect with ultrasound and laser. Methods: We assigned 60 patients age 65 to 85 who had been diagnosed as knee joint degenerative osteoarthritis in G nursing home in Daejeon city. Randomization was done in blocks of three, holding twenty people per each group to receive either ultrasound, laser, ultrasound-laser integration therapy. This study carried out the experiment for 6 weeks to from April 17, 2010. We measured variables using visual analog scale (VAS) and pressure threshold meter (PTM) of the effects by before and after exercise. Results: It has been found that VAS was reduced and PTM was increased in all three groups. Compare with the other groups, Ultrasound-laser integration therapy group had lower VAS and higher PTM than ultrasound therapy and laser therapy group. Conclusions: These results lead us to the conclusion that ultrasound-laser integration have influenced the pain reduction of the knee degenerative osteoarthritis.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.697-709
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• 2000

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of ElectroMyoscope(Electro_Acuscope and Myopulse) in tissue repairing on fatigue quadriceps femoris(rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus intermedius, and vastus medialis). Subjects were female adult volunteers with (n=13) and without (n=5) chronic fatigue muscle pain. We needed to fatigue the rectus femoris by overusing of a Cybex machine exercise. We turned the Electro-Myoscope to treatment mode and treated with treatment probe on the fatigue muscle, then turned instrument back to EMG and took the reading. The results indicated that the reading after the treatment was lower than before the treatment. A two-tailed t-test and Chi square indicated significant results(P<.03). It appears that the Electro-Myoscope is effective in treatment on the fatigue muscle.