Jaseng Hospital of Korean Medicine Confirms Effectiveness of Motion Style Acupuncture Treatment for Oculomotor Nerve Palsy

Faster Than Reported Recovery Periods:
Symptoms Improve More Than Twice as Quickly
With Integrative Korean Medicine Treatments

A study has found that patients with oculomotor nerve palsy who received integrative Korean medicine treatments, including Motion Style Acupuncture Treatment (MSAT), experienced symptom improvement more than twice as fast as previously reported recovery periods.

The Spine and Joint Research Institute at Jaseng Hospital of Korean Medicine announced on the 25th that its research paper analyzing the clinical effectiveness of Korean medicine treatments for domestic oculomotor nerve palsy patients was published in the SCI(E)-level international journal "Medicine" (IF=1.4).

Oculomotor nerve palsy is a neurological disorder in which the oculomotor nerve, a major cranial nerve responsible for eye and eyelid movement, is damaged, resulting in problems with eye movement, eyelid elevation, and pupil response. Symptoms commonly include ptosis, diplopia (seeing a single object as double), exotropia (outward deviation of the eye), and pupil dilation, all of which significantly restrict daily life.

The research team led by Korean medicine doctor Jung Hyukjin at the Spine and Joint Research Institute of Jaseng Hospital of Korean Medicine administered integrative Korean medicine treatment, with extraocular muscle MSAT as the main therapy, to patients with oculomotor nerve palsy who did not improve with conservative treatment. MSAT is an acupuncture technique in which needles are inserted into acupoints near the painful area, and the practitioner actively or passively guides the patient's movements to relax tense muscles.

The patient in this case was a 43-year-old woman who developed left extraocular muscle paralysis, diplopia, and ptosis during postpartum care following a cesarean section. She was diagnosed with left oculomotor nerve palsy through brain MRI and clinical evaluation. She had previously received inpatient and outpatient steroid treatment at a conventional hospital for four weeks without improvement. Subsequently, she underwent six weeks of integrative Korean medicine treatment at Jaseng Hospital of Korean Medicine from June 26 to August 9, 2023.

The degree of clinical improvement was assessed using the levator function test. In this test, both eyebrows are fixed with the thumbs, and the distance the eyelid moves is measured as the patient looks upward from a downward gaze. In healthy individuals, the eyelid moves more than 14mm, but at her initial hospital visit, the patient's levator function was 11mm, which is below normal, and she also had horizontal diplopia.

Levator function did not show significant improvement until the second week of treatment, but improvement was observed from the third week, nearing normal levels by the fourth week, and fully normalizing by the sixth week. Ptosis also gradually improved, returning to normal by the end of treatment, and strabismus was completely corrected, resulting in normal ocular alignment.

Generally, the average recovery period for oculomotor nerve palsy patients is reported to be 130.1±145.1 days for vascular palsy and 76.6±92.6 days for idiopathic palsy, typically requiring three to six months of observation. However, in this case study, signs of improvement were observed one and a half months after treatment began, indicating a recovery more than twice as fast as usual.

Jung Hyukjin stated, "This case study confirmed that integrative Korean medicine treatment, including extraocular muscle MSAT, is an effective and rapid recovery method for oculomotor nerve palsy patients who do not respond to conservative treatment. We hope that future clinical studies involving more patients will provide further evidence for the effectiveness of MSAT."

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