Effective in treating oriental medicine such as acupuncture and cupping and reducing pain in the lumbar disc
Mar 19, 2025
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Currently, surgery, drug treatment, non-surgical and non-drug treatment are being combined in Korea, but most guidelines, such as the American Academy of Internal Medicine (ACP), recommend non-drug treatment such as acupuncture for patients with acute and chronic low back pain first.
In response, Kim Du-ri, director of the Jaseng Oriental Hospital Clinical Research Center, and Dr. Han Chang-hyun of the Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, recently published the results of a study comparing and analyzing the effects and economic feasibility of oriental medicine such as medication, acupuncture, and Chuna therapy on herniated disc in the SCI(E)-level international journal `Journal of Clinical Medicine (IF=3.0))"'.
The researchers recruited 36 patients who had been suffering from lumbar discs for more than three months and experienced severe back pain and radiating pain in the lower extremities. After that, they were randomly assigned to the drug treatment group and the oriental medicine treatment group, and the treatment was performed twice a week for 8 weeks, followed up over 27 weeks.
The drug treatment group received active drug treatment, including nerve block and injection treatment using steroids, while the oriental treatment group received acupuncture and acupuncture, Chuna therapy, and cupping treatment.
At the start of treatment, the average number of back pain in the oriental treatment group and the drug treatment group (NRS; 0-10) was similar to 6.25 and 6.65 for severe or higher. However, in the 9th week, immediately after the end of treatment, the oriental medical treatment group decreased significantly to 2.45, and the drug treatment group recorded 4.33, showing a nearly double difference.
In particular, it is encouraging considering that 40% of patients assigned to the drug treatment group received an average of 3.4 nerve block surgeries and 28% received an average of 2.5 injections. In addition, in the 27th week, the oriental treatment group (2.36) showed more persistent pain relief than the drug treatment group (4.24).
The lower extremity radiation NRS also improved significantly from 6.11 before treatment to 2.03 in the oriental treatment group and 3.54 in the drug treatment group, and about 50% in the oriental treatment group. In the follow-up at the 27th week, the oriental treatment group (2.21) maintained a higher improvement than the drug treatment group (3.50).
The oriental treatment group also showed greater improvement than the drug treatment group in the waist dysfunction index (ODI; 0-100 points), which evaluates functional disorders caused by waist disks. At the start of treatment, it was moderate with an average of 41.31 points, but after the end of treatment, the oriental treatment group improved to 20.62 points and the drug treatment group to 25.79 points, showing a difference of 5.17. Six months later, the improvement in the oriental treatment group was greater with 17.35 points in the oriental treatment group and 23.91 points in the drug treatment group.
Economic evaluation also confirmed that non-drug treatment is a more economical treatment than drug treatment. In fact, oriental medicine treatment cost about $990 (about 1.42 million won) less than drug treatment in terms of all costs associated with medical use, absenteeism, and costs from productivity.
Director Kim Du-ri of Jaseng Oriental Hospital Clinical Research Center said "This study confirmed that oriental medicine treatment is an effective and cost-effective treatment strategy for herniated disk symptoms"We hope that this result will help us design large-scale studies in the future and present new directions for herniated disk treatment."
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This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
