• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.20-29
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• 2015

Objectives : The objectives of this study is to compare the effects of electroacupuncture(EA), warm needling(WN) and Radio Frequency warm needling(RFWN) stimulations on the acupoints at the artificially damaged ankles of Sprague-Dawley rats, which could be classified as the Grade 3. Methods : The foot weight bearing force ratio(FWBFR) of ankle sprain was measured first at 24 hours after without any other stimulations. Pain Recovery Index(PRI) represents the analgesic level, and modified Pain Recovery Index(mPRI) shows the accumulated recovery level. PRI was measured at 2 hours after each stimulus on GB34, GB39 and GB42, and mPRI was during 7 days. Results : EA stimulation of GB34 and GB39 acupoint in grade 3 ankle sprain showed a marked analgesic and recovery effect. RFWN of GB42 exhibited significant analgesic and pain recovery effect. RFWN of GB34 resulted in pain recovery effect but not analgesic effects, and RFWN of GB39 resulted in analgesic effect 2 hours after but not pain recovery. However, WN did not affect the pain recovery among three acupoints at all. Conclusions : In the Grade 3 ankle sprain model, the difference of analgesic effects were explained by the acupoints and the stimulation methods according to the accumulated recovery effects during 7 days. It is insufficient to determine that a certain acupoint has a specific analgesic effect depending on the stimulation method by the results of this study. Therefore, the effects of each stimulation on the acupoints in any other meridians at the sprained ankle should be compared and analyzed.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2017

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to evaluate effects of taping therapy on recovery of behavioral symptoms and neural excitability of the lumbar spinal cord in rat model for ankle sprain. Methods : Adult Sprague-Dawley rats was used and divided into 3 experimental groups: normal group(n=6), ankle sprain(n=6), and ankle sprain with taping treatment(n=6). In order to induce ankle sprain the right ankle joint was injured with 4~5 repetitive over-flexions and over-extensions manually. The severity of joint pain was evaluated by measuring foot weight bearing force ratio(FWBRF) of the hind limb and the injury-induced edema formation by diameter of the joint following ankle sprain. The changes of neural excitability in the lumbar spinal cord was tested by observation of cFos protein expression, a metabolic marker for neural excitation. Results : Severity of ankle injury induced in this experiment coincided with Grade 1 ankle sprain. Compared with ankle sprain group, ankle sprain＋taping showed a significant reductions of joint pain as well as of edema formation at the ankle joint following ankle sprain. There was significant upregulation of cFos-immunoreactive neurons in the lumbar spinal cord 24 hours after ankle sprain. In contrast, taping therapy resulted in significant inhibition of cFos-immunoreactive neurons in the lumbar spinal cord. Conclusions : Collectively, these results suggest that taping therapy may be an alternative therapeutic intervention for symptom recovery of the mild ankle sprain.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.253-259
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the influence of posture elements on symmetrical weight bearing during STS (sit-to-stand) in patients with chronic stroke. The subjects were patients diagnosed with stroke: a total of 24 patients (16 males and 8 females) participated in this study. All the participants performed STS tasks(3 foot postures and 2 arm postures). Two force plates (AMTI) were used to measure the peak vertical ground reaction force(Peak Fz) and the symmetrical ratio to peak vertical ground reaction force. The data were analyzed using independent t-test and 2-way repeated analysis of variance. The results of this study were as follows: 1) The peak Fz placed more weight on the paretic leg during STS and 2) The symmetrical ratio to the peak Fz showed a significant difference according to the foot and arm posture (p<.05), and had the highest AYM_GA ($0.87{\pm}0.12$). These results indicate that arm and leg postures during STS in patients with chronic stroke had the highest AYM_GA. We believe that the outcome of this study will be a reference for the prognosis of STS in patients with stroke.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.279-284
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• 2014

PURPOSE: This study intended to verify whether there was actual correlation between weight-bearing asymmetry and a limitation in hip joint rotation range in patients with low back pain. METHODS: Thirty five low back pain patients voluntarily participated this study. For each participant, hip joint medial rotation symmetry rate and the weight-bearing symmetry rate were calculated. The correlation between the two variables was investigated. RESULTS: A decrease in the left hip joint medial rotation range of motion (ROM) was observed more often than a reduction in the right hip joint medial rotation ROM. However, similar number between right and left side was observed in ground reaction force more weighted. The coefficient between the passive hip joint medial rotation symmetry rate and the weight loading symmetry ratio was -0.19 (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The present study demonstrated a weak correlation between the hip joint medial rotation ROM and the weight distribution of both feet. Such result suggests that careful evaluation by separating each element is needed in treating patients with low back pain. Future research should take into account asymmetric alignment and abnormal movement in different joints of the body as well as asymmetry in the bilateral hip joint rotation and the unilateral weight supporting posture.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.194-203
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• 2016

Objectives : The aim of this study was to observe the dose-dependent effects of bee venom (BV) pharmacopuncture on the serious ankle sprain in rats. Methods : The grade III ankle sprain was produced by surgically damaging the lateral ligaments complex of Sprague-Dawley rats. BV pharmacopuncture with the different doses($5{\mu}g/kg$, $10{\mu}g/kg$, $50{\mu}g/kg$) were treated on the different acupoints(GB34, GB39 and GB42) of the affected hind limb, respectively. By measuring foot weight bearing force ratio(FWBFR), the pain levels by ankle sprain and the pain recovery for 7 days were observed under BV pharmacopuncture on each acupoint. Results : In the normal and ankle sprained rat, the BV single administration decreased FWBFR in a dose - dependent pattern. The higher the BV dose, the higher the pain resulted in the normal and the sprained ankles. Especially, the dose - dependent effects of BV resulted in the most pronounced decrease in FWBFR in GB34. The recovery of FWBFR was shown at the low dose($5{\mu}g/kg$) BV and the effect was most remarkable in the BV of GB34, but the others showed no recovery effect compared with the control group. Conclusions : BV pharmacopuncture does not exhibit analgesic effects in acute phase of ankle sprain. However, the recovery of ankle sprain was more effective than the natural recovery in the case of low dose of BV repeated over time. Considering this, it is presumed that it would be important to select appropriate clinic guidelines for acute phase of ankle sprain.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.27-35
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• 2018

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to investigate the analgesic effect of electroacupuncture(EA) and radio-frequency warm needling(RFWN) stimulation in acupoint combination on ankle sprained pain in rats. Methods : The lateral ligaments of the Sprague-Dawley rats ankle were injured surgically resulting in sprain, of which was divided into EA, RFWN treatment groups and control group without treatment. The level of pain was measured through foot weight bearing force ratio followed by calculating pain relief. To stimulate proximal or distal area in ankle sprain, combination of proximal acupoints(GB34-GB39) and distal acupoints(GB39-GB42) from sprain area were applied, respectively, to either EA or RFWN stimulation. In addition, naltrexone or phentolamine was injected intraperitoneally before the stimulation to observe the pathway of analgesic effects. Results : In the proximal combination of GB34-GB39, EA and RFWN significantly increased pain relief compared to the control group (p<0.05). However, in distal combination with GB39-GB42, both EA and RFWN stimulation did not relieve pain due to ankle sprains. In the combination of GB34-GB39, the analgesia of EA was inhibited by blockade of the ${\alpha}$-adrenoceptor receptor. The analgesia of RFWN was inhibited by blockade of the ${\alpha}$-adrenoceptor receptor as well as ${\mu}$-opioid receptor. Conclusions : We observed that the proximal combination was effective in relieving pain when the treatment by acupoint combination was applied to the ankle sprain pain. Also, it was confirmed that this analgesia was also related to the pathways of ${\mu}$-opioid receptors and/or ${\alpha}$-adrenoceptors.