A survey of the clinical practice followed by Korean medicine doctors for scoliosis: Preliminary data for clinical practice guidelines

Abstract

Scoliosis is a spinal disease in which the Cobb angle is >10°. Scoliosis treatment can be surgical or conservative, and clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for conservative treatments have been updated since 2006. There have been several articles regarding the efficacy and safety of Korean medicine (KM) in treating scoliosis, but there are no CPGs. Our study investigated the current clinical practice using a survey for the future establishment of KM-CPGs. The survey mainly comprised clinical practice status, diagnosis, treatment, progress and prognosis, and perception of KM on scoliosis, with reference to existing surveys of other musculoskeletal disorders and scoliosis-related articles. A web-based survey was conducted from February 16, 2021 to February 28, 2021. We found that 60% of KM doctors (KMDs) respondents treated patients with scoliosis, and they valued radiographical measurements and scoliosis-related factors in the diagnosis. KMDs used multiple KM treatments, including acupuncture, Chuna, cupping, pharmacopuncture, and herbal medicine, and they emphasized the importance of KM more in nonstructural scoliosis than in structural scoliosis. Although the perception of the prognosis of scoliosis was in agreement with that suggested by previous guidelines, KMDs showed outstanding focus on reduction of symptoms of scoliosis and improvement of quality of life. Despite some limitations, including low participation and the need for consulting other medical practitioners, our study may be helpful for the development of KM-CPGs because it is the first to analyze the perceptions of KMDs on scoliosis and to collect preliminary data that are of significance for preparing clinical guidelines.

Research Trends of Pharmacopuncture: a bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer (2007-2023)

“…His early study on pharmacopuncture prospectively observed the long-term effects of integrative therapy, including pharmacopuncture in lumbar disc herniation [ 33 ]. His recent studies included a survey to develop a KM CPG for scoliosis [ 34 ] and a pragmatic randomized controlled trial protocol to investigate the effectiveness and safety of pharmacopuncture for chronic lower back pain [ 35 ]. These clusters were dense and overlapping, but Kyeong Han Kim and Soo-Hyun Sung were located laterally.…”

“…Over time, studies on pharmacopuncture have increased the level of evidence in the context of EBM. For example, recent surveys of KMDs [ 17 , 34 ] examining the use of pharmacopuncture in the context of KM CPG development, randomized controlled trials [ 3 , 4 , 22 , 35 ] using pharmacopuncture, and a meta-analysis [ 1 ] have been conducted. These results can be interpreted as the quantitative and qualitative growth of pharmacopuncture studies in Korea.…”

A Survey on Perceptions of the Direction of Korean Medicine Education and National Licensing Examination

“…On the topic of the NLE-KMD, to our knowledge, our study is the latest to investigate and analyze the current perceptions of KMDs and the first to gather more than 1000 KMD opinions. Because of our survey’s significant number of respondents, our study potentially provides a more representative justification than previous surveys in which KMDs participated [ 40 ]. However, there are some limitations.…”