2018, Vol.28, No.4

Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.6

pISSN : 1229-1854
https://journal.kci.go.kr/jkmr

Objectives Disuse muscle atrophy occurs in response to pathologies such as joint immobilization, inactivity or bed rest. Muscle disuse is accompanied by an increase in apoptotic signaling, which mediates some of the responses to unloading in the muscle. GB34 (Yanglingquan) is a acupuncture point on the lower leg and one of the most frequently used points in various skeletomuscular diseases. In this study, the hypothesis that the acupuncture at GB34 could attenuate immobilization-induced skeletal muscle atrophy was tested. Methods The left hindlimb immobilization was performed with casting tape in both GB34 group (n=10) and Control group (n=10). The rats in GB34 group were daily treated with acupuncture at GB34. After 2 weeks of immobilization, the morphology of right and left gastrocnemius muscles in both GB34 and Control groups were assessed by hematoxylin and eosin staining. To investigate the immobilization-induced muscular apoptosis, the immunohistochemical analysis of Bax and Bcl-2 was carried out. Results GB34 group represented the significant protective effects against the reductions of the left gastrocnemius muscles weight and average cross section area to compared with Control group. The acupuncture at GB34 significantly reduced the immunoreactivity of BAX and increased the immunoreactivity of Bcl-2 in gastrocnemius muscle compared with Control group. Conclusions These results suggest that the acupuncture at GB34 has protective effects against immobilization-induced muscle atrophy by regulating the activities of apoptosis-associated BAX/Bcl-2 proteins in gastrocnemius muscle. (J Korean Med Rehabil 2018;28(4):1-9)

Objectives To systematically explore the effects of acupuncture treatment for rotator cuff disorders and review the clinical trials. Methods We searched 9 electronic databases (PubMed, Cochrane central, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure [CNKI], Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information [KISTI], National Digital Science Library [NDSL], Korean studies Information Service System [KISS], Research Information Sharing Service [RISS], Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System [OASIS]) to find randomized controlled trials that used acupunture treatment for rotator cuff disorders. We assessed the designs of the randomized controlled trials and the method of acupuncture treatment according to the Standards for Reporting Interventions in Clinical Trials of Acupuncture (STRICTA). The methodological quality of randomized controlled trials were assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias (RoB) tool. Results Total 5 trials were reviewed. 4 out of 5 randomized clinical trials reported meaningful effects of acupuncture treatments compared to control group. However risk of bias seemed high. Conclusions Although the results suggest that acupuncture treatment has favorable effects for rotator cuff disorders, most of the studies included methodologically high risk of bias. Thus, well designed randomized clinical trials which evaluate the effects of acupuncture treatment for rotator cuff disorders should be encouraged. (J Korean Med Rehabil 2018;28(4):11-20)

Objectives This study was designed to investigate the effects of wet cupping on Wisu (BL12) in non-acute low back pain patients. Methods We recruited 30 participants for this study. Fifteen patients were randomly assigned to the Wisu (BL21) treatment group (WT group) and 15 were assigned to the non-acupoint treatment group (NT group). Both groups were treated with the pricking-cupping bloodletting method three times. Values at baseline and follow-up were analyzed by Wilcoxon signed rank test and the differences between the two groups were determined by Wilcoxon rank sum test. p-values less than 0.05 were considered significant. The primary outcome was the visual analogue scale (VAS), and secondary outcomes were the Oswestry disability index (ODI), Rolland-Morris disability questionnaire (RMDQ), Euroqol-5 dimension questionnaire (EQ-5D) and finger-to-ground distance (FTGD). These outcomes were measured on the day of first treatment before the procedure and on follow-up 7 days after the last treatment. Results Significant changes were identified in the VAS for pain and ODI in each group after wet cupping treatment on Wisu (p＜0.05). However, no significant changes were found between groups. Meanwhile, RMDQ and EQ-5D were significantly decreased only in the NT group (p＜0.05) without any differences between groups. FTGD was decreased in both groups, but not significantly. Conclusions Wet cupping with both Wisu treatment and non-acupoint had significant effects on non-acute low back pain, although there were no differences between the two groups. A large-scale study is needed to identify the effect of wet cupping on Wisu. (J Korean Med Rehabil 2018;28(4):21-32)