• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.74-86
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• 1997

This investigation has been conducted based on the medical chart of 344 patients who have been diagnosed of fibromyalgia syndrome during Oct. 9, 1996 through Nov. 20 at the Rheumatism Hospital of H. University located in Seoul. 280 which have been included in the analysis. 1. Only one patient was male in 280 patients, age distribution was from 28 to 76, in which the average age was 52.4. 2. Percentage of treatment duration was 6 months in 46.1%, 3 years in 22.1% and 2 years in 12.5%. Considering these results, it can be predicted that the number of patients might be increased and accumulated in the future. 3. Percentage of patients having primary fibromyalgia syndrome was 39.3%, having combination with osteoarthritis was 36.7% and the rest case have combination with rheumatoid arthritis at the same time. 4. The percentage of cases having patients 10-12 tender points was 37.1%, while the most of cases have pain at 12-19 tender points. The common locations of the tender point were at lateral epicondyle of elbow in 92.0%, at midpoint of upper border Trapezius in 84.8%, at upper part of scapula Supraspinatus in 82.9%, at medial fat pad proximal to the joint line knee in 81.85%, at intertransverse of $C_{5-7}$ Low cervical in 73.4% and at 2nd distal costochondral Junction 2nd rib in 72.0%. And most of the patients had joint functional disability at all in 47.1% with average 2.41 joint functional disability. 5. Age was not a variable influencing the number of tender points and the number of joint functional disability.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.323-333
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• 2024

Objectives: This case report describes the effect of complex Korean medical treatment on the clinical symptoms of a patient with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS). Methods: A 60-year-old female woman diagnosed with FMS in 2015 was prescribed Youngsunjaetong-em-hap-Sopunghwalhyeol-tang from 2 May 2023 to 20 June 2023 to reduce excessive sweating and widespread pain. With the same objective, acupuncture, moxibustion, and cupping treatment were administered from 23 May 2023 to 11 June 2023. Changes in excessive sweating and widespread pain were recorded 2 months post-treatment. Results: Treatment with Youngsunjaetong-em-hap-Sopunghwalhyeol-tang led to a considerable improvement in clinical symptoms after 2 months, especially excessive sweating and widespread pain compared to the baseline parameters of the first visit. In addition, no adverse effects, such as liver injury or decreased kidney function, were recorded during the herbal medicine treatment. Conclusion: This case report points to the use of complex Korean medical treatment as a therapeutic option for the management of FMS.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.341-351
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• 2014

Purpose : In this study, the medication effects of Milnacipran and Pregabalin, as well known as fibromyalgia treatment medicine, in fibromyalgia syndrome patients were compared through the change of BOLD signal in pain related functional MRI. Materials and Methods: Twenty fibromyalgia syndrome patients were enrolled in this study and they were separated into two groups according to the treatment medicine: 10 Milnacipran (MLN) treatment group and 7 Pregabalin (PGB) treatment group. For accurate diagnosis, all patients underwent several clinical tests. Pre-treated and post-treated fMRI image with block-designed pressure-pain stimulation for each group were obtained to conduct the statistical analysis of paired t-test and two sample t-test. All statistical significant level was less than 0.05. Results: In clinical tests, the clinical scores of the two groups were not significantly different at pre-treatment stage. But, PGB treatment group had lower Widespread Pain Index (WPI) and Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI) score than those of MLN treatment group at post-treatment stage. In functional image analysis, BOLD signal of PGB treatment group was higher BOLD signal at several regions including anterior cingulate and insula than MLN treatment group at post-treatment stage. Also, paired t-test values of the BOLD signal in MLN group decreased in several regions including insula and thalamus as known as 'pain network'. In contrast, size and number of regions in which the BOLD signal decreased in PGB treatment group were smaller than those of MLN treatment group. Conclusion: This study showed that MLN group and PGB group have different medication effects. It is not surprising that MLN and PGB have not the same therapeutic effects since these two drugs have different medicinal mechanisms such as antidepressants and anti-seizure medication, respectively, and different detailed target of fibromyalgia syndrome treatment. Therefore, it is difficult to say which medicine will work better in this study.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.147-154
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• 2018

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a contested illness with ill-defined boundaries. There is no clearly defined cut-point that separates FM from non-FM. Diagnosis of FM has been faced with several challenges that occur, including patients' health care-seeking behavior, symptoms recognition, and FM labeling by physicians. This review focuses on important but less visible factors that have a profound influence on under- or over-diagnosis of FM. FM shows different phenotypes and disease expression in patients and even in one patient over time. Psychosocial and cultural factors seem to be a contemporary ferment in FM which play a major role in physician diagnosis even more than having severe symptom levels in FM patients. Although the FM criteria are the only current methods which can be used for classification of FM patients in surveys, research, and clinical settings, there are several key pieces missing in the fibromyalgia diagnostic puzzle, such as invalidation, psychosocial factors, and heterogeneous disease expression. Regarding the complex nature of FM, as well as the arbitrary and illusory constructs of the existing FM criteria, FM diagnosis frequently fails to provide a clinical diagnosis fit to reality. A physicians' judgment, obtained in real communicative environments with patients, beyond the existing constructional scores, seems the only reliable way for more valid diagnoses. It plays a pivotal role in the meaning and conceptualization of symptoms and psychosocial factors, making diagnoses and labeling of FM. It is better to see FM as a whole, not as a medical specialty or constructional scores.

• Clinics in Shoulder and Elbow
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2003

Myofascial pain이나 filbrbomyalgia 등에 의한 만성 견관절통증은 보존적 치료로 치료적인 효과를 기대할 수 있는 질환이며, 수술적 치료가 필요한 다른 질환과의 감별을 요한다. 만성적인 견관절 동통의 치료는 증상의 원인과 악화요인을 확인하고 실질적으로 도움이 될 수 있는 적절한 치료법을, 단계적으로 적용하는 것이 효과적이며. 환자와 teamwork을 형성하여, 환자가 병증에 대해 충분히 이해하고 안심할 수 있도록 도와주는 것이 무엇보다 중요하다.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.95-113
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• 2023

Objectives: To review studies evaluating effects of acupuncture on pain and depressive symptoms in fibromyalgia. Methods: Quantitative evidences (RCTs) were systematically reviewed. Literature were searched for a combination of fibromyalgia and depression (The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), EMBASE, medline (via PubMed), Kmbase, KISS, ScienceON, OASIS, CiNii, CNKI). Quantitative research findings were critically appraised by Cochrane risk of bias (RoB) tool and pooled. Meta-analysis was then conducted using Review Manager (RevMan) 5.4. Results: Eighteen studies were selected. American College of Rheumatology (ACR) classification criteria for Fibromyalgia Syndrome was most frequently used as diagnostic criteria for fibromyalgia. As for outcome measurement, Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD), Visual Analog Scale (VAS), and Total Effective Rate (TER) were used most commonly. Meta-analysis of ten studies revealed that both Depression and VAS scores of the Acupuncture+Western Medicine group were significantly lower than those of Western Medicine group (Depression: SMD, -0.94, 95% CI, -1.17 to -0.70; VAS: MD, -1.51, 95% CI, -1.83 to -1.19). Also, TERs of both Acupuncture group and Acupuncture+Western Acupuncture+Western Medicine group were significantly higher than those of the Western Medicine group (OR: 2.38, 95% CI: 1.29 to 4.41; and OR: 7.40, 95% CI: 3.41 to 16.07). There was no significant difference in Depression or VAS score between the Acupuncture Group and the Western Medicine Group. Conclusions: Acupuncture might be an effective option for pain and depressive symptoms of fibromyalgia when it is combined with Western Medicine treatment. For more accurate results, more types of Korean medicine treatment should be conducted.

• The Journal of Korea CHUNA Manual Medicine
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.99-109
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• 2003

Dr. Lawrence H Jones developed innovative approach for the treatment of neuromuscular and musculo-skeletal disorders such as fibromyalgia, myofacial pain syndrome, any other muscle pain. This technique is called Strain/Counterstrain technique which uses effect of neuromuscular reflex for treatment of strain. First, Relieving spinal or other joint pain by passively putting the joint into its position of greatest comfort; secondly relieving pain by reduction and arrest of the continuing inappropriate proprioceptor activity. This was accomplished by markedly shortening the muscle that contains the malfunctioning muscle spindle by applying. mild strain to its antagonists. In other words, the inappropriate strain reflex is inhibited by application of counterstrain. Many other techniques have been developed for treating of muscle pain due to somatic dysfunction, but we want to introduce you to strain/counterstrain technique because this is basic concept and theory of Chum therapy for controling motor system.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.250-257
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• 2017

Vitamin D is a cofactor responsible for autoimmune disorders. There is no agreement in the studies investigating the association between vitamin D and fibromyalgia. This study aims to combine the conflicting results of the primary studies which compared these patients with control groups regarding the serum concentration of vitamin D. This meta-analysis has been designed based on PRISMA guidelines. Relevant keywords were searched in PubMed, Science direct, Scopus, Cochrane, and Google scholar and primary studies were selected. After screening the eligible studies according to inclusion/exclusion criteria, we investigated the risk of bias in the selected studies and also the heterogeneity between the primary results using Cochrane (Q) and I-squared ($I^2$) indices. The primary results were combined using inverse variance method and Cohen statistics as well as a random effects model. Publication bias was assessed using Egger test. Sensitivity analysis was applied to investigate the influence of each primary study on the final result of the meta-analysis. Suspected factors in the heterogeneity were assessed using meta-regression models. We entered 12 eligible studies in the meta-analysis including 851 cases compared with 862 controls. The standardized mean difference of Vitamin D between the two groups was -0.56 (95% confidence interval: -1.05, -0.08). Our meta-analysis showed that vitamin D serum levels of patients with fibromyalgia was significantly lower than that of control group.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.381-393
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• 2016

This was a qualitative study to explore and better understand the adaptation experience and processes of peoples with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS), as well as to develop a substantive theory using the grounded theory method. There were 13 patients (12 females and 1 male) who received FMS treatment from Rheumatic Medicine outpatient department of one general hospital. The data were collected through an in-depth interview between January and May of 2014. Transcribed interview contents were analyzed by the grounded theory method of Corbin and Strauss (2008). As a result, a total of 98 concepts, 26 sub-categories, and 10 categories were identified through the open coding process. The process of adaptation experience showed 4 steps: perception of uncertainty and limited condition, evaluation of self-control possibility and determinations of expectations of life, searching and trying of strategies, as well as self-regulation. The 4 types of adaptation experience were expansionary, complacently, effusively and withering. The 'protective self-regulation' theory was derived from the core category of 'learning to self-regulation method'. Patients with FMS has repeatedly attempted these strategies of protective self-regulation in order to gain stability from uncertainty and limited condition of the disease. Based on these results, it is necessary to develop an educational program for patients and families which has appropriate nursing intervention strategies in accordance with the types of adaptation.

• CELLMED
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.14.1-14.2
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• 2022

Currently, a 70-year-old woman started suffering from S.I joint pain from 1973 and had severe pain in the S.I joint, wrist, and elbow from 1975 to 1977, and was diagnosed with spinal tuberculosis at a general hospital. From 1978 to 1987, she suffered from chronic fatigue and insomnia, and since January 1, 1988, she was unable to get up while lying down, suffering from whole body joint, muscle pain, and fibromyalgia. In May 1989, she was also diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis through genetic testing at the Catholic St. Mary's Hospital Rheumatology Department in Korea, and was treated with sulfasalazine, analgesic, and immunosuppressant, methotrexate, for 12 years until 1999, but none of the drugs eliminated the pain. She was hospitalized and discharged repeatedly, and continued to receive salt water poultice and exercise therapy at home, but was unable to move at all. In 2000, after biologic treatment with Remicade injection (Remsima®), she was able to walk and move, and after that, she was continuously prescribed biologics. From 2015 to 2019, Enbrel® (Etanercept) injection was prescribed once a week, but the symptoms such as severe pain (joint and muscle, fibromyalgia), scleroderma, Sjogren's syndrome (dryness of eyes, nose and mouth), difficulty swallowing, chronic fatigue, and stiff body appeared. Around January 2018, hepatic indicators were high and lymphocytes became enlarged. However, most serious injuries were highly improved after the OCNT combination therapy using active phytonutrients, anthocyanin-fucoidan nanocomplex. Therefore, for patients with such experiences, OCNT treatment is proposed as an alternative.