• Journal of Acupuncture Research
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.265-282
• /
• 2004

Objective : The aim of this study was to review systemically clinical trials on the effectiveness and safety of herbal medicines in the treatment of osteoarthritis. Methods : Computerized literature searches were carried out on seven electronic databases, and hand-searching on some chinese medical journals in library of Kyung Hee Medical Center. Trial data were extracted in a standardized, predefined manner and assessed independently. Results : 1. Thirty reports of clinical trials and two reports of meta-analyses concerning herbal medicine were collected and reviewed. Among these reports three medical herbs were applied as topical medicine and others as internal medicine. 2. The western studies established NSAIDs or placebo as their control group. Five chinese reports established formulated herb pill(Ruanshnagshenjin pill) as their control group and Six did not establish a control group at all. 3. ACR was the most highly used diagnostic criteria in the western studies while the Chinese used their official criteria established by their government or the criteria of their text books. 4. 20 reports chose the Lequesne functional index, SHAQ, WOMAC OA index, AIMS, and their own unique scoring system as the criteria of analysing the effect. Others chose clinical symptoms, articular functions, and lab finding as their criteria. 5. 7 single herbs and 19 formulated herbs were studied. Among the formulated herbs, Achyranthes japonica was studied in 10 of the studies and Angelica gigantis Radix in 8, making them the most often studied herbs among the studies.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.107-119
• /
• 2017

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of moxibustion for primary dysmenorrhea (PD). Methods: We searched 10 electronic databases (CNKI, WANFANG, VIP, AMED, CiNii, Embase, PubMed, Cochrane, OASIS, Korea Traditional Knowledge Portal) to identify eligible studies published before November 2016. We included randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs) using moxibustion for primary dysmenorrhea. The methodological quality of each RCT was assessed by the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Results: Ten RCT studies were eligible in our review. The overall risk of bias was evaluated as unclear. The meta-analysis of 4 trials indicated that favorable results for the use of moxibustion. Conclusions: This systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials suggests that moxibustion can achieve good efficacy for PD patients. However, because of studies included analysis was biased due to unclear risk of bias and unreliable study design, future high-quality RCT studies are needed to determine the association moxibustion with PD.

• The Journal of Churna Manual Medicine for Spine and Nerves
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.89-100
• /
• 2020

Objectives : This study aimed to verify the clinical effectiveness of Baduanjin for shoulder pain. Methods : We searched 10 electronic databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, CAJ, KISS, KISTI, KMBASE, RISS, NDSL, and OASIS) up to May 2020. We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) using Baduanjin for shoulder pain. The methodological quality of each RCT was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Results : As a result of the search, a total of 6 RCTs were eligible for analysis. Of these 6 studies, one applied Baduanjin alone and 5 cases used Baduanjin in combination with other treatments, such as acupuncture or electroacupuncture. Except for 2 studies, descriptive analysis was performed without meta-analysis due to the high level of heterogeneity between studies. A high risk of bias was observed in all studies. Conclusions : When considering the results of the included papers, there was limited information derived on the therapeutic effect of using Baduanjin as a single intervention, but the results showed significant effectiveness when Baduanjin was combined with other oriental interventions, such as acupuncture and electroacupuncture, in the clinical field. Although all RCTs included in the analysis were biased to CAJ and the number was limited, this study was conducted in accordance with the methodological process of systematic literature reviews and revealed the clinical effects of Baduanjin on shoulder pain.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.14-22
• /
• 2010

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate any clinical research regarding asthma published by the Korean Oriental Medical Society and its sub-societies for future rigorous clinical research. Methods: Every article relevant to asthma was initially obtained from journals in the Korean Oriental Medical Society and its sub-societies by electronic search at journal web sites or manual search. Journals were limited to those registered by the Korea Research Foundation. From initial findings, two independent reviewers selected clinical articles and these articles were further analyzed separately into predefined criteria according to prospective and retrospective studies. For prospective studies, quality assessment was also conducted. Results: From 99 articles initially obtained, 19 were finally analyzed. 14 were prospective whereas 5 were retrospective. Among the prospective articles, there were no randomized controlled trials and the non-randomized studies had no control groups, with several problems of quality regarding pre-calculated study size and unbiased assessment. None of the retrospective studies described asthma diagnosis objectively and outcome measures were either non-relevant to asthma or non-validated. Conclusions: Well-designed randomized controlled studies for asthma are needed and more rigorous non-randomized controlled studies should be conducted.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
• /
• v.35 no.3
• /
• pp.67-88
• /
• 2021

Objectives The purpose of this study is to analyze randomized clinical trials (RCTs) on traditional Chinese medicine to summarize its efficacy and safety for the treatment of functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) in children. Methods We searched literatures published up to March 19, 2021 using two Chinese electronic databases. Data regarding patients, interventions, results, and adverse events were extracted from RCTs of herbal medicine for children with FGIDs. Results A total of 34 RCTs were included: 16 trials on functional dyspepsia, 7 trials on functional constipation, 6 trials on functional abdominal pain, 4 trials on irritable bowel syndrome, and 1 trial on functional diarrhea. 26 of 29 trials that reported total effective rate, the treatment group showed a significant improvement compared to the control group. Most of other evaluation indicators, such as symptom score, symptom disappearance time, and recurrence rate also demonstrated statistically significant improvement. Of the 16 studies which reported safety, 5 studies reported no adverse reactions in either group, and 4 studies reported no statistically significant differences in the incidence of adverse events between two groups. Also, reported adverse events were mostly mild. Conclusions Herbal medicine may help improve symptoms of FGIDs in children. However, due to limited types of studies on sub-diseases of FGIDs and small sample sizes in each study, additional large scale clinical studies on various other FGIDs are necessary.

• The Journal of Churna Manual Medicine for Spine and Nerves
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.9-19
• /
• 2021

Objectives This systematic review aimed to provide evidence for the effectiveness and safety of Chuna manual therapy (CMT) for carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Methods We searched 12 electronic databases (PubMed, Ovid-MEDLINE, EMBASE, The Cochrane Library, CNKI, CiNii, ScienceON, KMbase, KISS, OASIS, KMTANK, and RISS) up to the end of October 2021. We only included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating CMT for the treatment of CTS. The methodological quality of the included RCTs was evaluated using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool 1.0. Results Six RCTs were eligible for inclusion in our study. A meta-analysis of four studies demonstrated positive results for the use of CMT when used in conjunction with Korean medicine treatment compared to those for Western conservative treatment for CTS. Conjunction treatment significantly improved the total efficacy rate compared to conservative treatment alone (P=0.0007, n=4). Conclusions There is reliable evidence for the use of CMT in treating CTS based on a published meta-analysis. To measure only the effect of Chuna, an experimental group should be designed with Chuna alone to evaluate its effectiveness. However, it should be noted that the studies included in this systematic review were heterogeneous and of low quality, thus warranting further investigation using well-designed RCTs.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
• /
• v.39 no.6
• /
• pp.1191-1205
• /
• 2018

Objectives: This study was performed to review clinical research trends in the treatment of primary headache disorders with pharmacopuncture. Methods: We searched clinical studies on primary headache disorders treated with pharmacopuncture in four electronic databases including OASIS, RISS, CNKI, and Pubmed. The selected studies were analyzed with regard to study design, subject, intervention, evaluation, and result. Results: Five randomized controlled trials, one non-randomized controlled trial, one before-and-after study, and six case series were selected. Most of the studies showed that pharmacopuncture treatment was significantly effective in treating primary headache disorders; however, the quality of the randomized controlled trials was low. Conclusions: According to this study, pharmacopuncture could be a useful treatment option for primary headache disorders. Based on these results, further studies on the effectiveness and safety of pharmacopuncture for primary headache disorders should be performed in the near future.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.137-147
• /
• 2021

Objectives Domestic acupuncture research is being actively conducted in various fields. The aim of this study is to systematically analyze the current acupuncture randomized controlled trials (RCTs) conducted on healthy volunteers. Methods We searched RCTs by the search terms of (acupuncture & random & healthy) in 10 electronic databases and related journals. Then, we analyzed the characteristics and assessed the risk of bias by Cochrane tool. Results Finally, 49 acupuncture RCTs on health volunteers were included in our analysis. The purpose of research could be classified into five major categories: (1) checking the effects on physiological function, (2) comparing the effects of different acupuncture/acupuncture methods, (3) a study confirming improvement after inducing a specific condition, (4) a sham acupuncture study, and (5) a comparison of acupuncture sense. The Cochrane risk of bias was generally high, especially only 1 trial adopted allocation concealment (1/49, 2.0%) and 9 ones with assessor blinding (9/49, 18.4%). Conclusions Acupuncture RCTs in healthy subjects have confirmed various effects in various age/sex groups. However the research quality should be updated for future clinical research and to draw clear conclusion within rigorous methodology.

• Journal of Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science
• /
• v.33 no.2
• /
• pp.119-126
• /
• 2017

Purpose: The aim of the present study was to compare clinical antiplaque and antigingivitis effect between Light Emitting Diode (LED) electronic toothbrush and electronic toothbrush without LED for gingivitis and mild periodontitis patients. Materials and Methods: 30 patients included in this study. 15 patients in experimental group used LED electronic tooth brush which has red and white LED within its head, and other 15 patients in control group used same product which specially modified that function without LED. Clinical parameters ($L{\ddot{o}}e-Silness$ gingival index (GI), Quigley-Hein plaque index (PI)) were measured at the baseline, 2 weeks and 4 weeks later. Wilcoxon signed rank test and Mann-Whitney test were used for statistical analysis. Results: Compare of GI change between experimental and control group with time, both groups showed that reduced GI, but lower GI values detected at 2 weeks and 4 weeks later in experimental group than control group. And lower PI values detected at 4 weeks later in experimental group than control group, but not statistically significant. Conclusion: Based on these results and within the limits of this study, the electronic toothbrush with LED could reducing gingivitis in a short period and infer that decreasing plaque accumulation in a long period.

• The Journal of Churna Manual Medicine for Spine and Nerves
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.29-42
• /
• 2017

Objectives : To determine the evidence of effectiveness and safety of Chuna manual therapy(CMT) for essential hypertension Methods : We searched 11 electronic databases(Pubmed, Web of Science, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, CAJ, KISTI, KISS, NDSL, KMBASE, RISS, DBpia) and related 2 journals up to April 2017. We included randomized controlled trials(RCTs) of testing Chuna manual therapy for hypertension patients. Results : Twenty one RCTs were eligible in our inclusion criteria. The meta-analysis of eighteen studies showed positive results for the using Chuna manual therapy for essential hypertension. Conclusions : There is favorable evidence of Chuna manual therapy for treating essential hypertension with meta-analysis. However, our systematic review has limited evidence to support Chuna manual therapy for essential hypertension because of low quality of original articles and further well-designed RCTs should be encouraged.