Telephone Survey for Developing Clinical Trial Protocol on Individualized Acupuncture Treatment for Knee Osteoarthritis

퇴행성 슬관절염의 맞춤형 침구 임상시험 프로토콜 개발을 위한 전화조사

Objectives : This study was accomplished in order to find out how Korean medical doctors take acupuncture prescription for knee osteoarthritis in clinical practice Methods : The survey questions were developed by the consensus from 4 professors and 10 residents who major in acupuncture & moxibustion for developing clinical trial protocol on individualized acupuncture treatment for knee osteoarthritis. 206 persons having more than 10 years experience were randomly selected from a list of Korean medical doctors. Telephone interviews with them were conducted by the well-trained interviewers between May 21 and May 27 in 2005. Results : 139 of 206 Korean medical doctors made an acupuncture prescription prior to treatment of knee osteoarthritis. 103 of 139 Korean medical doctors used both local and remote points, and 26 of them used remote points only, and 10 of them used local points only. In case of doctors who use remote points, the five element (45 of 129) or Saam (28 of 129) acupoints were used dominantly, and its was based on the pattern identification of the Jangbu organs related with the pain (56 of 129) or of the pain location (35 of 129). Conclusion : This study showed that Koran medical doctors prefer to use remote points such as five element or Saam acupoints based on the pattern identification of the Jangbu organs related with the pain or the pain location. These result may be useful for developing protocols for clinical trial on acupuncture on knee osteoarthritis.