A Review of the Korean Traditional Medicine for Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy

Abstract

Objectives This study was performed to research the trends of Korean traditional medicine treatment for cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM). Methods Clinical studies about Korean traditional medicine of CSM were searched in 7 online databases. We extracted the characteristics of selected studies according to author, publication year, country, research design, treatment methods, evaluation tools, and adverse events. Results Nineteen studies were selected in online databases. The included studies consist of 8 uncontrolled trial, 7 case reports, 3 randomized controlled trials and 1 non-randomized controlled trials. In these studies, various Korean traditional medicine treatments were performed, and herbal medicine was the most common. The most commonly used outcomes was effective rate. Conclusions This study showed that Korean traditional medicine could be an effective treatment for CSM. It was suggested that various studies should be conducted to provide objective evidence of the therapeutic effects of Korean traditional medicine treatment for CSM.

Treatment of Cervical Myelopathy with Acupotomy Combined with Korean Medicine Treatments: Two Clinical Cases

“…Conservative treatment of CSM and cervical myelopathy include drug therapy, injection therapy, and physical therapy, among others [3]. Korean medicine treatment includes herbal medicine, acupuncture, moxibustion, pharmacopuncture, traction, and acupotomy [7]. Of which, acupotomy has been studied since 2006, with studies reported in 2007, 2014, 2017, and 2018 [5,7].…”

“…Korean medicine treatment includes herbal medicine, acupuncture, moxibustion, pharmacopuncture, traction, and acupotomy [7]. Of which, acupotomy has been studied since 2006, with studies reported in 2007, 2014, 2017, and 2018 [5,7]. Of these 5 studies, 4 were conducted in China and 1 was conducted in Korea where only 1 case was reported [5].…”

“…In the treatment of CSM and cervical myelopathy, acupotomy was performed selecting the protuberance of 1.0 cm acupotomy to 1.5 cm outside of the cervical spinous process as the acupuncture area, and the cervical nuchal ligament, trapezius, and cervical erecting muscles were used as the treatment sites [5,7]. Further studies are warranted to select, and treat the site according to symptoms and causes, and to prove the effect of acupotomy treatment alone.…”

“…Acupotomy has been used to restore soft tissue damage, and the original dynamic state of abnormal lesions of the body by removing adhesions, nodules, and scars [5]. However, reviews report that there are only a few studies using combined Korean medicine treatment including acupotomy for the cervical region [6,7]. Therefore, this report describes the results for 2 patients 1 with CSM and 1 with cervical myelopathy, who were treated with combined Korean medicine including acupotomy.…”

“…Recently, Korean medicine treatments including acupuncture, moxibustion, and acupotomy have been studied for the treatment of various spinal diseases [2,[5][6][7]. Acupotomy has been used to restore soft tissue damage, and the original dynamic state of abnormal lesions of the body by removing adhesions, nodules, and scars [5].…”