• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.205-217
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• 2008

Background : One of the characteristics of acupuncture, a popular modality for treating musculoskeletal pain, is a plurality in diagnosis and treatment that can profoundly influence the treatment outcome. This multiplicity in treatment modality has to be considered in any research on the effectiveness of acupuncture. Many practitioners stress the necessity for individualized patient treatment, including acupuncture point selection and manipulation technique. However, the importance of individualization in acupuncture treatment, compared with standardization, has received little attention in clinical trials. The aim of the future study described here is therefore to compare the effectiveness of individualized acupuncture for knee osteoarthritis with standardized acupuncture and no acupuncture in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Methods : A total of 195 patients aged 50 years and over with knee pain, will be randomly divided into three treatment groups: individualized acupuncture, standardized acupuncture, and waiting list. Outcome data will be collected through patient.completed questionnaires before randomization, and at 4, 8 and 12 weeks after randomization. The questionnaires will be investigated demographic details as well as information on pain, movement and function of the affected knee, general health and quality of life. Discussion : This paper presents details on the rationale, design, and methods of the trial.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.225-232
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• 2006

Objective : To test the hypotheses that individualized traditional Korean acupuncture improves pain and disability in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee and that benefits remain after stopping treatment more so than is the case for standardized minimal acupuncture. Design : Randomized single blind controlled trial with two intervention arms (individualized traditional Korean acupuncture, standardized minimal acupuncture) of six weeks' duration and three months follow-up. Setting : Acupuncture interventions were applied by two training doctors in the Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion in a 1000-bed hospital. Assessment of the result was performed in a university-based laboratory. Participants : 50 patients with symptoms of knee osteoarthritis as diagnosed by an orthopedist. Intervention : Individualized traditional Korean acupuncture or standardized minimal acupuncture for six weeks. Main outcome measures: Primary outcome measure was pain as measured by the visual analogue scale. Secondary measures of pain and disability included the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities (WOMAC) index, Short Form-36 (SF-36), Lequesne Functional Index (LFI) score and Korean version of Health Assessment Questionnaire (KHAQ). Discussion : This paper presents detail on the rationale, design, methods and operational aspects of the trial.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.163-170
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• 2005

Background : Over the last thirty years, majority of researches on clinical effectiveness of acupuncture have been explanatory (or experimental) randomized controlled trial. The benefits of acupuncture in clinical trials are still controversial and most studies concluded that further control studies were required. Standardized combinations of acupuncture points for all the experimental subjects in various past studies have been criticized because such treatments do not reflect current routine clinical treatment. Objective : This paper aims to review pragmatic clinical trials on the effect of acupuncture treatment and to develop the ideal clinical research methodology of acupuncture study. Method : Clinical studies of acupuncture relevant with pragmatic or individualized trials were searched mainly in Pubmed and Science direct databases. All articles were fully reviewed by researchers, and data were evaluated by usage of a standardized form. Results & Suggestion : Pragmatic acupuncture researches were tried for various symptoms (eg. low back pain, hypertension, depression during pregnancy, sleep quality in HIV disease, chronic poststroke leg spasticity, headache, etc). Individualized acupuncture treatments based on oriental disease pattern diagnosis reflexes practical treatments which is more effective than unified and fixed acupuncture treatments without any theoretical basis of oriental medical philosophy. Conclusion : To overcome the controversies and limitations of past explanatory acupuncture trials, more individualized and tailored acupuncture trials with the theoretical basis of oriental medical diagnosis is highly recommended. Also clear definition and categorization of pattern identification should be established for further active clinical researches and applications of acupuncture.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.183-195
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• 2007

Objectives : To determine whether individualized acupuncture (IA) provides greater pain relief and improved function compared with standardized acupuncture (SA) in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee. Methods: Design is a randomized single blind controlled trial with two intervention arms (IA vs SA) of 6 weeks' duration and 3 months follow up. An orthopedist diagnosed 50 patients' symptoms as knee osteoarthritis. Interventions were applied by 2 residents studying the acupuncture and moxibustion specially in Dongguk University International Hospital. Primary outcome measure is pain as measured by visual analogue scale (VAS). Secondary measures of pain and disability include WOMAC, SF-36, LFI and KHAQ. Results : The 50 participants were well matched for age, sex, bad side, VAS, WOMAC, SF-36, LFI and KHAQ scores at the baseline. 3 participants dropped out. There have not been any adverse events in both groups. Participants in both groups experienced great improvement in all measures except SF-36at 3 and 6 weeks. At 18 weeks, the IA group experienced significantly greater improvement than the SA group in VAS but not in WOMAC, SF-36, LFI and KHAQ. Conclusions : Manipulation of IA seems to provide pain relief longer for osteoarthritis of the knee when compared with SA.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.159-176
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• 2004

Objective : To present a criteria for acupuncture standardization, which will improve quality of acupuncture and secure safety, through studies of the biocompatibility of acupuncture. Methods : The acupunctures distributed in Korea were studied. The chemical composition, elasticity, and the solidity of the acupuncture's metal material was analyzed. Results & Conclusions : 1) The acupunctures distributed in Korea were all produced with ST304. Because acupuncture is used on a living body, the corrosion resistance, allergy proof and magnetism of the metal material should be considered. In this point, STS316 stainless steel would be more suitable than ST304. 2) The elasticity and solidity of the acupuncture's metal material distributed in Korea meet the medical instrument standards of the Korea Food and Drug Administration. But since the standards are only roughly outlined, the criteria should be realized and standardized.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.26 no.2 s.62
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• pp.166-175
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• 2005

Objecitve: To present criteria for acupuncture standardization, which will improve the quality of acupuncture and secure safety, through studies of the biocompatibility of acupuncture needles. Methods: Acupuncture needles distributed in Korea were studied. Acute poisonous tests and pyrogenicity materials tests were executed to study the biocompatibility of acupuncture needles. Results & Conclusions: All 3 brands of acupuncture needles commonly distributed in Korea were found suitable for medical use, through acute poisonous tests and pyrogenicity materials tests. However, the medical instrument standards of the Korea Food and Drug Administration for acupuncture lack criteria concerning acute poisonous tests and pyrogenicity materials tests. The criteria for these tests should be standardized in order to secure the biocompatibility of acupuncture needles.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.213-224
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• 2003

Background and Objectives: Nocturnal enuresis is a common problem that can be troubling for children and their families. Treatment options include nonpharmacologic and pharmacologic measures. Various nonpharmacologic treatments have been shown to have a positive effect on bed-wetting in small studies but have not been extensively evaluated (generally weak strength of evidence). This study was undertaken to determine if there is any evidence for the clinical efficacy of acupuncture for treatment of nocturnal enuresis. Methods : Author conducted a computerized literature search in following database: Medline(via Pubmed), NDSL. There were no restrictions on the language of publication. The data were extracted in a standardized, predefined manner and assessed critically. Results : 4 article was selected. Acupuncture is composed of general acupuncture, electro, laser. Acupuncture treatment of the children had significantly more dry night than before treatment Conclusion : Alternative, nonpharmacological approach using acupuncture works in children with monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.180-190
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• 2004

Objectives : To present criteria for acupuncture standardization, which will improve quality of acupuncture and secure safety, through studies of the biocompatibility of acupuncture materials. Methods : Acupuncture needles distributed in Korea were studied. Intracutaneous reaction tests and sterility tests were executed to study the biocompatibility of acupuncture. Results & Conclusions : All 4 kinds of acupuncture needles distributed in Korea were found suitable for medical use, through intracutaneous reaction tests and sterility tests. However, the medical instrument standards of the Korea Food and Drug Administration lack criteria concerning intracutaneous reaction tests and sterility tests. The criteria for these tests should be standardized in order to secure the biocompatibility of acupuncture needles.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.1119-1128
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• 2011

The aim of this study is to collect and analyze clinical studies on acupuncture therapies of Post-stroke depression, and to suggest a method on study about acupuncture therapies. In this thesis, electronic searches were performed. Also, 6 major journals associated with oriental medicine in Korea were searched manually. Through searching, 27 studies were selected and analyzed. There were 24 controlled studies and 3 non-controlled studies. Treatment methods were acupuncture, electronic-acupuncture, eye-acupuncture, abdominal-acupuncture and pharmaco-puncture. The percentages of these treatment method were 59.2%, 29.6%, 3.7%, 3.7% and 3.7%, respectively. Acupuncture points such as GV20, PC6, ST36, SP6, LV3, GV24, GV26, LI14, LI11, H7, ST40, GB20, GB34 and LI15 were used. In comparison of results before and after acupuncture treatment, there were statistically significant improvement in 26 studies. Based on the results from above, the studies on acupuncture for Post-stroke depression needs to be standardized and more appropriate high-quality study models should be introduced.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.153-164
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• 2015

Objectives: The aim of this study was to collect and analyze studies on acupuncture therapies for treatment of voiding difficulty in stroke patients and to suggest methods of study for acupuncture therapies. Methods: Electronic searches were performed on search sites including NDSL, 국회도서관, RISS4U, DBPIA, KISS, KMBASE, KoreaMed, 한국전통지식포탈, OASIS, Pubmed, CNKI, using the search words ‘중풍’, ‘뇌졸중’, ‘stroke’, ‘배뇨장애’, ‘voiding’, ‘urinary’, ‘incontinence’, ‘retention’, ‘ ’, ‘침치료’, and ‘acupuncture’ as single or combined keywords, from January 1990 to August 2013 with language limitation, Korean, English, Chinese. Also, quality of the studies were evaluated using Jadad score. Results: The searches identified 16 studies for selection and analysis. In the present study, voiding difficulty includes urinary incontinence and urinary retention. The acupuncture points CV4, SP6, and CV3 were the most frequently used. Treatments were most frequently applied daily. The times and terms of acupuncture treatment, were most frequently 30 minutes per treatment for 4 weeks Conclusions: The acupuncture therapies were effective in the treatment of voiding difficulty in stroke patients, but the study of acupuncture therapy as a treatment for this issue in stroke patients needs to be standardized and high-quality study models should be introduced.