• Korean Journal of Oriental Medicine
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.159-166
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• 2010

Objective : The purpose of this study is to compare the Effect of Acupuncture on Local Acupoints and Distal Acupoints for Patients with Whiplash Injury. Method : From January 1st 2009 to September 31th 2009, 10 patient were divided into 2 groups. One group was taken Local Acupoints, and the other group was taken Distal Acupoints. To check pain and treatment satisfaction, visual analog scale(VAS) and five-point likert scale were used before and after treatment. Result : Both acupuncture theraphy showed improvement in VAS and five-point likert scale. And Local Acupoints group showed more effective than Distal Acupoints group on five-point likert scale. Conclusion : This Study suggests that Acupuncture on Local Acupoints and Distal Acupoints can be applicable to improve symptom in Patients with Whiplash Injury.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.57-64
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• 2011

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to compare the efficacy after acupuncture on local acupoints group and distal acupoints group for chronic neck pain. Design : A randomized, crossover clinical trial. Methods : From 15st, September 2010 to October 30th, 2010. 20 patients with chronic neck pain were randomly assigned to either group A or group B. Group A received acupuncture at local acupoints then after 1 week washout period acupuncture at distal acupoints. Group B received the treatment in reverse order. To evaluating efficiency and satisfaction, visual analog scale(VAS), neck disability index(NDI), cranio-cervical flextion test(C-CFT) and five-point likert scale were measured before and after each treatment. Results : Patients in local acupoints group experienced greater improvement than distal acupoints group in VAS. Both local acupoints group and distal acupoints group showed significant improvement in NDI but not in C-CFT and the NDI score change comparison between the two groups had no significance. Local acupoints group showed more effective than distal acupoints group on five-point likert scale. Conclusions : Local acupoints is more effective than distal acupoints in controlling pain in chronic neck pain.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.183-192
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• 2008

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to compare immediate response after acupuncture on Local Acupoints group and Distal Acupoints group for neck pain patients. Methods : From January 2nd 2008 to August 31th 2008, 10 neck pain patients were divided into 2 groups. One group(test I group) was taken Local Acupoints, and the other group(test II group) was taken Distal Acupoints. To check immediate response and satisfaction of needling, visual analog scale(VAS), range of motion(ROM), clinical evaluation grade and five-point likert scale were used before and after treatment. Results : Both acupuncture therapy showed immediate response and good effect on neck pain. And test I group showed more immediate response than test II group on all categories. Conclusions : Local Acupoints group can be recommended as an immediate and useful therapy to treat neck pain.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.21-27
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• 2019

Background: The intelligent tissue hypothesis holds that an organ's states (be it normal function or stressed states) are reflected in real time at its related acupuncture points (acupoints), causing physical, real-time changes in the local tissue. The experiment was devised to test this. Methods: The patient drank chilled water while the impedance at 6 stomach-related acupoints was monitored in real time (sample rate of 1 kHz). Any changes in the local tissue at the acupoints ought to be reflected in changes in the impedance. Results: The impedance at every test acupoint showed a response to the chilled water being ingested. Also, the duodenal pacesetter and the stomach's slow waves were clearly visible in the impedance pattern at all the acupoints. Conclusion: Hence, many separate details of the stomach's function were reflected at these acupoints. The duodenal features were consistent with the traditional indications for these acupoints, which are noted to be able to treat intestinal conditions. Therefore, the results were consistent with the hypothesis and also provided a possible explanation for how the use of these acupoints is able to treat intestinal conditions.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.431-440
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• 2012

Objectives : Recently, network science is very popular topic in various scientific fields and many studies have reported that it gives meaningful results on studying characteristics of a complex system. In this study, based on network theory, we made acupoints network using data of combined acupoints which appeared at "Beijiqianjinyaofang". We focused to find out the distinctive roles of remote and local combinations on the network. Furthermore, we aimed to identify the possibility of numerical and quantitative application to acupuncture researches. Methods : Based on examples of combined acupoints in "Beijiqianjinyaofang", the network consisted of 291 nodes and 2,431 links. The spatial distances between combined acupoints were calculated by the human dummy model. We removed the links step by step for the three cases - remote, local, and random cases, and observed the characteristic changes by calculating path lengths, similarity indices, and clustering coefficients. Also cluster analysis was carried out. Results : The network had a small number of remote links, and a large number of local links. These two links had the distinct characteristics. Whereas the local links formed a cluster of nearby nodes, remote links played a role to increase the correlation between the clusters. Conclusions : These results suggest that acupoints network increases the connectivity between the distal part and the trunk of human body, and enables various combinations of the acupoints. This finding conclusively showed that mechanism of combined acupoints could be interpreted meaningfully by applying network theory in acupuncture researches.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.227-242
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• 2008

Objectives : To compare the efficacy of local acupoint with distal acupuncture at relieving pain and improving function in knee osteoarthritis. Designs : A randomized, single-blinded, crossover clinical trial. Settings : One outpatient clinic(department of acupuncture & moxibustion) located in academic teaching hospital, South Korea. Patients : 17 patients with osteoarthritis of the knee(mean age 62.76[$SD{\pm}4.37$] years). Interventions : The trial had 4 stages : baseline(2weeks), phase I and II(each 2weeks), washout period(2weeks). Patients were randomly assigned to either group A or group B. Group A received acupuncture at local acupoints during phase I, then acupuncture at distal acupoints in phase II. Group B received the treatments in reverse order. In each phase, the patients were treated with acupuncture for 6 times. Measurements : The primary outcome was subjective pain as measured by a 100mm visual analogue scale(VAS) ranging from 0(no pain) to 10(worst pain ever). Secondary outcomes were changes in the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index(WOMAC) total and pain scores. Measurements were obtained at baseline, 1st day of phase I and II, and 2 days after last treatment of phase I and II. Results : The 17 participants in 2 groups were well matched for age, sex, target knees, baseline VAS score, WOMAC pain score and WOMAC score. Participants in local acupoint group experienced greater improvement than distal acupoint group at 2 days after last treatment in WOMAC total score(mean difference, -10.65[95% CI, -20.56 to -0.74] ; P=0.036) but not in VAS(mean difference, -12.41[95% CI, -29.56 to 4.73] P=0.15) and WOMAC pain score(mean difference, -1.82[95% CI, -3.98 to 0.33] ; P=0.094). Conclusions : Local acupoints are more effective than distal acupoints at relieving pain and improving function in knee osteoarthritis.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.107-118
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• 2009

Objectives : This study was performed to investigate physiology, pathology and clinical applications for cosmetology in Traditional Chinese Medicine. We hope most clinicians practicing cosmetic acupuncture to understand theoretical background well and to treat cosmetic diseases more diversely by this paper. Methods : We collected useful informations from 35 papers in Chinese at website www.cnki.net about TCM treatments including acupuncture, moxibustion and herbal medicine. And we could see important factors connected with physiology, pathology and clinical applications within this field. Conclusions : Liver, lung, stomach, mental disorders and yin-deficiency constitution were connected each other in cosmetic physiology. Blood stasis and congestion were thought highly in cosmetic pathology. In clinical applications, wet cupping therapy on the acupoints located in the back line of Governor Vessel(GV), ear-acupuncture, acupuncture using local facial acupoints, pharmacopuncture, moxibustion were used diversely for each case with cosmetic disorders. Especially, local acupoints and remote acupoints were selected at the same time for wrinkle care. And studies on plastic surgery sequelae, dark skin, acne and melasma were more published than those on wrinkle care.

• Journal of Convergence Korean Medicine
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.13-17
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• 2022

Objectives: Primary dysmenorrhea is a representative disease that causes intestinal pain, and it has long been known that acupuncture treatment is effective. In this study, a network analysis was conducted using acupuncture points reported in the existing systematic literature review, and the combination of acupuncture points used to treat primary dysmenorrhea was analyzed. Methods: Among of a total of 60 papers, excluding those that used ear acupuncture, the analysis results indicated that combinations of BL23, BL40, BL25, BL60, BL30, Ashi-points, BL26, GB34, and GV3 were used in combination. Results: Through this, it can be seen that previous studies to reveal the effectiveness of acupuncture on back pain mainly used the acupoints of the bladder meridian (BL), local acupoints group, and distal acupoints group. Conclusion: In order to reveal the correlation between acupoints and therapeutic effects through future studies and to provide guidelines on the principles of selecting and combining acupoints, it is necessary to employ a quantitative analysis method for therapeutic effects and to provide detailed reports on acupoints.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.113-125
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• 2017

Objectives : Cervical herniated intervertebral disc (HIVD) are common diseases. They can be managed with acupuncture, but the evidence for effectiveness is uncertain. This review analyzed the acupuncture studies of domestic neck pain and cervical HIVD; the purpose of this study was to provide basic data useful for future research. Methods : We investigated acupuncture treatments for neck pain and cervical HIVD by searching 5 Korean Internet databases. The keywords used were "neck pain", "HIVD-cervical spine", and "nuchal pain". A total of 53 research papers (17 case reports, 16 clinical data analyses, 11 randomized controlled trials, and 9 non-randomized controlled trials) were found and analyzed according to the publication year, type of study, treatment, use of filiform needles, and type of pharmacopuncture used acupoint. The effectiveness of acupuncture treatment was determined. Results : 1. Filiform needles have been primarily used in domestic research and were used in at least half of published pharmacopuncture studies. 2. In 51 papers using filiform needles, many studies used only local acupoints; few studies used only distant acupoints. 3. All studies using pharmacopuncture were performed using local acupoints. In particular, the studies based on A-shi point, trigger point, and radiologic lesion sites were useful for multiple purposes. Conclusion : In this study, we analyzed the acupuncture contents of the domestic neck pain and HIVD-cervical spine clinical studies. This study considers the assessment of the quality and efficacy of each study, which is likely to require research that reflects the future.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.81-89
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• 2015

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to explore the trends of acupoints used for lumbar HIVD(Herniated Intervertebral Disc) and treatment and anatomical location of Hwatahyeopcheock. Methods : We searched the latest clinical studies on acupuncture treatment for lumbar HIVD(Herniated Intervertebral Disc) through domestic studies search. To analyze the data, we categorized them by year and article types of literatures and investigated often-used acupoints and acupuncture types for treatment by reading treatment part of every paper searched. Domestic and Chinese literatures related to Hwatahyeopcheock were also studied for its anatomical location. Results : Total 50 articles are searched and local points are more used than distant points for lumbar HIVD(Herniated Intervertebral Disc) and most of them showed curative effects. Back-su points were used the most and Hwatahyeopcheock use accounted for one-third of the articles. In the articles of Hwatahyeopcheock use, except for one, patients complained of both low back pain and radiating pain, and all of them showed positive results after treatment. Conclusions : Back su point is considered to have its meaning as physical region where patients feel pain including herniated disc level rather than the effect meridian system makes. Through document research and meridian muscle theory, we found that Hwatahyeopcheock means vertebral facet joint, intervertebral foramen and surrounding muscle, nerve, blood vessel and related spinal nerves.