Efficacy and Safety of Korean Herbal Medicine for Patients with Post-Accident Syndrome, Persistent after Acute Phase: A Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

This is a pragmatic, two-armed, parallel, single-center, randomized controlled clinical trial for comparative evaluation between the effectiveness of integrated Korean medicine (IKM) and herbal medicine treatment with that of IKM monotherapy (control) for post-accident syndrome persistent after the acute phase. Participants were randomized into Herbal Medicine (HM, n = 20) and Control groups (n = 20) to receive the allocated treatment of 1–3 sessions/week for 4 weeks. Intention-to-treat analysis was conducted. The Difference of Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) change of overall post-accident syndromes from baseline to week 5 for the two groups was 1.78 (95% CI: 1.08–2.48; p < 0.001). Regarding secondary outcomes, a significant decrease compared to the baseline values was confirmed for NRS of musculoskeletal, neurological, psychiatric complaints and general symptoms of post-accident syndromes. In a survival analysis based on the recovery criteria of “patients with a reduction in the NRS of overall post-accident syndromes of ≥50%,” the HM group showed a shorter time to recovery than the control group during the 17-week study period (p < 0.001 by the log-rank test). IKM combined with herbal medicine treatment significantly improved the quality of life by relieving somatic pain and alleviating the overall post-accident syndrome persistent after the acute phase; this effect was maintained for at least 17 weeks.

Use of Herbal Decoction and Pharmacopuncture in Individuals with Chronic Disease: findings from a nationally representative panel

“…This suggests that perceptions of these non-insured KM treatments for musculoskeletal conditions are likely more favorable. This observation can be understood in the context of high-quality studies demonstrating the therapeutic effects of HD [ 15 ] or PA [ 16 , 17 ] for musculoskeletal diseases recently published in South Korea. Some clinical practice guidelines recommend their use for chronic low back pain, lumbar disc herniation, and degenerative knee arthritis [ 18 ].…”

Integrative Korean Medicine Treatment for Obesity and Overweight in Children and Adolescents: A Multicenter Retrospective Chart Review Study

“…8 Chuna manual therapy is a manual therapy used to treat structural or functional problems by Korean medicine doctors (KMDs), who stimulate a patient’s body structures using hands, body parts, or tools such as a Chuna table. 9 Although the effect of a specific HM, Slim-diet, with lifestyle modification on 13 obese children has been reported retrospectively, 10 no clinical studies have investigated the use of various IKM and their effects in pediatric obesity and overweight. Therefore, to explore the current situation before examining the effect with a prospective study design, we investigated the real-world usage status and the potential effect of the IKM currently being used for children and adolescents with obesity and overweight through a multicenter chart review for the first time.…”