• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• 제26권6호
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• pp.241-249
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• 2009

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to report the patients with compressive neuropathy of the radial nerve(Saturday Night Palsy), who was improved by acupuncture and Sweet Bee Venom(SBV) treatment. Methods & Results : The patients were hospitalized or outpatient in Dept. of Acupuncture & Moxibustion, traditional korean medical hospital, Sangji University from 1st, Dec. 2008 to 30th June 2009, and treated with acupuncture, SBV, electrical stimulation therapy and herbal medication therapy. To evaluate the wrist drop and numbness of fingers, coding result(Arbitrary values used to evaluate result) and digital infrared thermal image, which was well defined diagnostic tool estimating skin surface temperature difference, were used. As a result, patient symptoms were improved remarkably. Conclusions : Patients were treated during 6 weeks in average. 2 cases were excellent and 1 case was evaluated good result by the acupuncture, Sweet Bee Venom, electrical stimulation therapy.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• 제55권3호
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• pp.148-151
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• 2014

Objective : Posture-induced radial neuropathy, known as Saturday night palsy, occurs because of compression of the radial nerve. The clinical symptoms of radial neuropathy are similar to stroke or a herniated cervical disk, which makes it difficult to diagnose and sometimes leads to inappropriate evaluations. The purpose of our study was to establish the clinical characteristics and diagnostic assessment of compressive radial neuropathy. Methods : Retrospectively, we reviewed neurophysiologic studies on 25 patients diagnosed with radial nerve palsy, who experienced wrist drop after maintaining a certain posture for an extended period. The neurologic presentations, clinical prognosis, and electrophysiology of the patients were obtained from medical records. Results : Subjects were 19 males and 6 females. The median age at diagnosis was 46 years. The right arm was affected in 13 patients and the left arm in 12 patients. The condition was induced by sleeping with the arms hanging over the armrest of a chair because of drunkenness, sleeping while bending the arm under the pillow, during drinking, and unknown. The most common clinical presentation was a wrist drop and paresthesia on the dorsum of the 1st to 3rd fingers. Improvement began after a mean of 2.4 weeks. Electrophysiologic evaluation was performed after 2 weeks that revealed delayed nerve conduction velocity in all patients. Conclusion : Wrist drop is an entrapment syndrome that has a good prognosis within several weeks. Awareness of its clinical characteristics and diagnostic assessment methods may help clinicians make diagnosis of radial neuropathy and exclude irrelevant evaluations.