Jasaeng Korean Medicine Hospital Confirms Effectiveness and Cost-Effectiveness of Korean Medicine Treatment for Lumbar Disc Herniation

Published in the SCI(E)-Level International Journal "Journal of Clinical Medicine"

Director Kim Doori of the Clinical Research Center at Jaseng Korean Medicine Hospital and Dr. Han Changhyun’s research team at the Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine announced on the 19th that their study comparing and analyzing the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of Korean medicine treatments such as drug therapy, acupuncture, and Chuna manual therapy for herniated lumbar disc was published in the SCI(E)-level international journal Journal of Clinical Medicine.

Kim Doori, Director of the Clinical Research Center at Jaseng Hospital of Korean Medicine. Jaseng Hospital of Korean Medicine

The research team recruited 36 patients who had been suffering from herniated lumbar disc for more than three months and experienced severe or higher levels of lower back pain and radiating pain in the lower limbs. The patients were then randomly assigned to either the drug therapy group or the Korean medicine treatment group. Treatments were administered twice a week for eight weeks, followed by a 27-week follow-up observation period.

The drug therapy group received active drug treatments including nerve block procedures using steroids and injection therapies, while the Korean medicine treatment group received acupuncture and electroacupuncture, Chuna manual therapy, and cupping therapy.

At the start of treatment, the average Numeric Rating Scale (NRS; 0?10) scores for lower back pain were similar between the Korean medicine treatment group and the drug therapy group, at 6.25 and 6.65 respectively, corresponding to severe pain or higher. However, at week 9, immediately after treatment completion, the Korean medicine treatment group’s score significantly decreased to 2.45, whereas the drug therapy group’s score was 4.33, showing nearly a twofold difference. Notably, considering that 40% of patients in the drug therapy group underwent an average of 3.4 nerve block procedures and 28% received an average of 2.5 injection treatments, these results are encouraging. Furthermore, at week 27, the Korean medicine treatment group (2.36) continued to show sustained pain relief compared to the drug therapy group (4.24).

The NRS for radiating pain in the lower limbs also showed greater improvement in the Korean medicine treatment group, decreasing from 6.11 before treatment to 2.03, compared to 3.54 in the drug therapy group, representing approximately 50% greater improvement. At the 27-week follow-up, the Korean medicine treatment group (2.21) maintained a higher degree of improvement than the drug therapy group (3.50).

Regarding functional disability caused by herniated lumbar disc, measured by the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI; 0?100 points), the Korean medicine treatment group showed greater improvement than the drug therapy group. The average score at the start of treatment was 41.31, indicating moderate disability. After treatment, the Korean medicine treatment group improved to 20.62 points, while the drug therapy group improved to 25.79 points, showing a difference of 5.17 points. Six months later, the Korean medicine treatment group scored 17.35 points, and the drug therapy group scored 23.91 points, with the Korean medicine group maintaining a larger improvement margin.

Cost-effectiveness evaluation also confirmed that non-drug Korean medicine treatment is a more economical treatment method compared to drug therapy. In fact, from a societal perspective including all medical utilization costs as well as costs related to absenteeism and reduced productivity, Korean medicine treatment incurred approximately $990 (about 1.42 million KRW) less in costs than drug therapy.

Director Kim Doori stated, "Through this study, we were able to confirm that Korean medicine treatment is an effective therapeutic strategy for herniated lumbar disc symptoms. We hope these results will aid in designing large-scale future studies and provide new directions for herniated lumbar disc treatment."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.