• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
• /
• v.32 no.4
• /
• pp.277-282
• /
• 2018

The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical effects of Korean medical treatments combined with Embedding acupuncture on patients with supraspinatus tendon partial tear. We reviewed the medical records of 1 patients with supraspinatus tendon partial tear at Pureunsan oriental medical clinic from Oct, 2017 to November, 2017. The patient received embedding acupuncture therapy and oriental medical therapy. To evaluate the efficacy of the treatments, the patient was asked to complete a Visual analogue scale(VAS) and the Shoulder pain and disability index during treatment period. The VAS of the patient decreased more than the screening period. The SPADI change of the embedding acupuncture group were greater than non treatment period. Embedding therapy combined with Korean medical treatment might be effective in reducing pain and improving the life quality of patients with supraspinatus tendon partial tear. We hope that further studies will be done to produce more clinical data and ensure effective application of these results.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.37-68
• /
• 2024

Objectives: This study aimed to systematically review thread-embedding treatment studies for depression, anxiety, and dementia and examine the effectiveness and safety of thread-embedding treatment. Methods: Ten domestic and international search databases were used for study selection, including CNKI, PubMed, CENTRAL, EMBASE, CINAHL, AMED, PsycArticles, RISS, OASIS, and KCI. We included studies that presented diagnostic or appropriate criteria for depression, anxiety, and dementia, and randomized control studies using thread-embedding therapy. We searched papers published until October 10, 2023. Results: Twenty-one studies were selected, of which 11 studies were conducted on depression, nine on dementia, and one on anxiety disorders. The most commonly used acupoint for depression was Gansu (BL18), whereas zusanli (ST36) and fenglong (ST40) were used for dementia. The most commonly used type of thread was 1-0 United States pharmacopeia (USP) and 1 cm for depression and 2-0 USP and 1 cm for dementia. The treatment period for most of the studies was once every 2 weeks and for 8 weeks. Among the included studies, 17 showed significant improvements in depression scales, such as Hamilton depression rating scale and Self rating depression scale, activities of daily living scales, and cognitive function scales, such as Hasegawa dementia scale and Mini-mental state examination. Six studies reported adverse events, and no studies reported significant adverse events. Two studies reported follow-ups. Conclusions: This study presents limited evidence for the effectiveness and safety of thread-embedding therapy for depression, anxiety, and dementia. Well-designed studies are needed to review the clinical efficacy and safety of thread-embedding therapy in the future.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.35-44
• /
• 2013

Objectives : This study was designed to compare the effect between needle-embedding therapy and sweet bee venom pharmacopuncture therapy on early stage of peripheral facial paralysis. Methods : We investigated 60 patients with peripheral facial paralysis. Subjects were randomly divided into two groups and dropped out 20 patients. : needle-embedding therapy group(group A, n=20, dropped out 9 cases among 29 cases) and sweet bee venom pharmacopuncture therapy group(group B, n=20, dropped out 11 cases among 31 cases). needle-embedding therapy was performed for group A three times a week dividing face into three areas during 4 weeks and Sweet bee venom pharmacopuncture therapy was performed for group B two or three times a week during 4 weeks. To evaluate the effect of treatment applied for two groups, we used Yanagihara's unweighed grading system and House-Brachmann grading system at before treatment, after one week from visit, two weeks from visit, three weeks from visit, and four weeks from visit. Results : After treatment, Yanagihara's score and House-Brachmann grading system were improved in each group except during first week. But there was no significant difference in improvement between group A and group B. Conclusions : Needle-embedding therapy would be as effective to improve symptoms of early stage of peripheral facial paralysis as sweet bee venom pharmacopuncture therapy.

• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.137-143
• /
• 2015

The purpose of this study is to investigate the clinical studies of cupping therapy for obesity in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and to evaluate the effects of it for use in practice. CNKI were searched for controlled studies on cupping therapy for obesity that were published up to September 2015. The review included 9 randomized controlled trials, and we analyzed the objectives, process of interventions, outcome measurements, and main results of the studies. We found that cupping therapy combined with acupuncture, electric acupuncture or thread embedding have more effectively decreased body mass index, waist circumference and lipid profile than acupuncture, electric acupuncture or thread embedding only have done. In the reviewed studies, cupping therapy treated in the region of abdomen, upper and lower limbs, and dorsal part operating on 5 to 25 minutes for one time with total 6 to 45 times of schedule. In this study, we demonstrated that cupping therapy combined with acupuncture, electric acupuncture or thread embedding could have effectively used for treating obesity. Further evaluation and clinical researches are required to establish evidence in practice.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.251-259
• /
• 2013

The purpose of this study is to observe the effect of Korean medicine treatment in combination with intra-articular bee venom injection and needle-embedding therapy on recurrent patellar dislocation in patient. The Patient, diagnosed as recurrent patellar dislocation, was treated by Korean medicine treatment in combination with intra-articular bee venom injection and needle-embedding therapy. Visual analogue scale (VAS), knee flexion range of motion (ROM), Korean Western Ontario and Mcmaster Universities arthritis index (K-WOMAC) were used to measure changes during treatment. After treatment, VAS, knee flexion ROM, K-WOMAC were improved significantly. The Korean medicine treatment in combination with intra-articular bee venom injection and needle-embedding therapy was proved to be helpful to improve the symptoms of the recurrent patellar dislocation.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
• /
• v.44 no.3
• /
• pp.74-86
• /
• 2023

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine search trends and their meanings for major uninsuired Korean medicine (KM) treatments through analysis of an online portal search results. Methods: Keywords searches were performed using Naver Datalab on 4 July 2023. From January 2016 to June 2023, monthly relative search volume (RSV) for keywords 'pharmacopuncture', 'Chuna', and 'needle-embedding therapy', and 'herbal decoction' were extracted with a score between 0 and 100. For the obtained RSVs, longitudinal changes over time, characteristics according to sex and age group, and correlations between them were investigated. Results: The ranking of RSV for each keyword has changed from 'Chuna', 'herbal decoction', 'needle-embedding therapy', and 'pharmacopuncture' to 'Chuna', 'herbal decoction', 'pharmacopuncture', and 'needle-embedding therapy' after 2019. Overall, the RSV of needle-embedding therapy continuously decreased, while that of pharmacopuncture continuously increased. In 2019, a rapid increase in the RSV of Chuna was observed, and in 2020, a rapid increase in the RSV of herbal decoction was observed. There was a difference in the longitudinal change pattern of RSV for the keywords by age group. Importantly, in the elderly, changes in RSV were observed in a favorable pattern to KM treatment. Conclusion: Our findings enable estimation of the public's interest and its changes for the four uninsuired KM treatment, and can be used as basic data to strengthen health insurance coverage in Korea. Specifically, changes in interest in KM treatments according to sex and age can be referred to.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
• /
• v.30 no.3
• /
• pp.151-160
• /
• 2013

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to review the thread embedding treatment studies of obesity in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Methods : We reviewed 59 studies on cat-gut-embedding treatment of obesity which were published from 2005 to 2012. The studies were searched using the data base-CAJ(China Academic Journals; 中國期刊全文數據庫)(2005~2012). Results : Selected 59 studies were divided into 27 case series and 32 control studies. The number of studies has increased since 2005, more rapidly in 2011~2012. Most case series reported were about effectiveness of thread embedding monotherapy treating obesity. Control studies reported were about effectiveness of thread embedding treatment compared with acupuncture, electroacupuncture, and medicine. Most studies on thread embedding treatment of obesity showed that its effectiveness was very good. Conclusions : There have been many reports of thread embedding treatment studies of obesity in Traditional Chinese Medicine. We believed that these studies could be applied to the clinical practice and basic research in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
• /
• v.38 no.3
• /
• pp.122-132
• /
• 2021

Objectives : This systematic review aims to assess the effectiveness of thread embedding therapy on animal model for rheumatoid arthritis. Methods : Search was conducted in the Cochrane library, MEDLINE (PubMed), EMBASE, the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wan-Fang Database, Technology Journal Database, the Korean Studies Information Service System, the Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System, the Research Information Sharing Service, the National Digital Science Library, the Korean Traditional Knowledge Portal and the Korea Citation Index. Data were extracted concerning animal model, intervention and rheumatoid arthritis indicator by two independent reviewers. Reporting quality was also evaluated by the ARRIVE (Animal Research: Reporting In Vivo Experiments) guidelines 2.0. Results : One thousand thirty six studies were primarily selected. After screening, 10 studies met the inclusion criteria. 1 study was published 2005, 1 study was published 2010, 1 study was published 2012, 1 study was published 2015, 2 studies were published 2016, 3 studies were published 2017, 1 study was published 2018. The most frequently used acupoints were ST36 and BL23, and were used with an average frequency of 11.8 days. All of these thread embedding therapy studies were effective on behavioral, morphological, immunohistological and hematological indicators to treat of rheumatoid arthritis model. Conclusions : These results demonstrated the effectiveness of thread embedding therapy and suggested the putative mechanism. However, considering the small number of included studies, low reporting quality and differences in study design, further studies with rigorous designs and high reporting quality need to be conducted.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
• /
• v.6 no.3
• /
• pp.15-21
• /
• 2003

Background : This study focuses on the new acupuncture method of embedding method which inserts a substance on the acupuncture points for continuous stimulation. Clinical applications and cautions were examined through literary investigations. Results : Based on the literary consideration of embedding method, the following results were obtained : 1. Embedding method is a combination of traditional and embedding technique to provide longer duration of stimulation on the acupuncture points. 2. To administer the embedding method, one needs to utilize a embedding thread besides acupuncture apparatus. Sheep gut is commonly used in China and the surgical thread is the choice in Korea. 3. Embedding method may vary from the patient to patient, depending on the nature and location of the illness. Piercing, embedding, and tying are some of the possibilities. 4. Embedding method may have different arrangement of threads based on the choice of usage. 5. Embedding method is effective for various chronic illnesses such as aches, functional diseases, and the diseases of internal organs. 6. When using the embedding methods, cautions against infection and side effects due to strong stimulation are mandatory.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
• /
• v.29 no.3
• /
• pp.129-137
• /
• 2012

Objectives : Polyarteritis nodosa is a progressive disease of connective tissue that is characterized by nodules along arteries; nodules may block the artery and result in inadequate circulation to the particular area. This report is intended to estimate the efficacy using oriental complex treatment on a patient with Polyarteritis nodosa. Materials and Methods : From 19th March, 2012 to 12th May, 2012, One male inpatient diagnosed with polyarteritis nodosa was treated with general oriental medicine therapy : needle-embedding therapy ; acupuncture ; pharmacopuncture ; acupotomy therapy and herbal medication. VAS(visual analogue scale) was used for evaluation of both leg pain. Other subjective symptoms including night sweat, tinnitus, upper heat were evaluated by percentage comparing the symtoms before and after treatment. Results : The patient showed a certain degree of improvement in both leg pain and other subjective symtoms. Conclusions : Oriental treatments such as needle-Embedding therapy, acupuncture and moxibustion therapy, pharmacopuncture therapy, acupotomy therapy and herbal medication can be effective for controlling pain and other accompanied symtoms due to polyarteritis nodosa.