Effectiveness and Safety of Acupotomy Treatment on Shoulder Pain: 25 Multicenter Retrospective Study

Abstract

Hyocheong Chae,1,2,* Hongmin Chu,1,3,* Junghun Lee,1 Hagdong Kim,1 Dongha Kim,1 Sebong Park,1 Kwanghwan Lim,1 Minsu Jeong,1 Kyungho Kang,1 Gyeongchan Kim,1 Joo Hyun Lee,1 Sehun Jung,1 Jaehyo Kim,4 Yongjoo Kim,5 Myungseok Ryu1,6 On behalf of Korean Medical Society of Acupotomology KM Doctors Group1Departmental Research Committee, Korean Medical Society of Acupotomology, Seoul, Republic of Korea; 2Sunyujae Korean Medicine Clinic, Yongin, Republic of Korea; 3Department of Korean Internal Medicine, College of Korean Medicine, Wonkwang University, Iksan, Republic of Korea; 4Department of Meridian & Acupoint, College of Korean Medicine, Wonkwang University, Iksan, Republic of Korea; 5College of Korean Medicine, Sangji University, Wonju, Republic of Korea; 6Clinic Department, Daemyeong Korean Medicine Clinic, Seoul, Republic of Korea*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Myungseok Ryu, Clinic Department of Daemyung Korean Medicine Clinic, Wonwoo b/d 3rd fl, Yangpyeong-ro, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, 07208, Republic of Korea, Tel [phone], Fax [phone], Email [email protected]: Shoulder pain is a common complaint in outpatient clinics and can result in an inability to work or perform household activities, leading to significant socioeconomic burden. Acupotomy, as one kind acupuncture that has flat knife-shaped tip, has been widely used for treating shoulder pain. However, despite the widespread use of acupotomy in primary medical institutions, large sample size clinical trials have not sufficiently been performed. In this respect, this multi-center retrospective study aimed to investigate the effectiveness and safety of acupotomy in reducing shoulder pain and disability using data from multi-center primary care clinics.Methods: This study was conducted in 25 Korean medicine clinics affiliated with the Korean Medical Society of Acupotomology, Republic of Korea, from August 2021 to December 2021. The medical records of patients who visited the clinics complaining of shoulder pain were gathered, and among them were those of patients who underwent acupotomy treatment and those who received acupuncture combined therapy. The Numeric Rating Scale (NRS), SPADI (Shoulder Pain and Disability Index), Range of Motion (ROM) and adverse event were evaluated at each visit. A linear mixed-effects models and paired t-test were used to identify the effectiveness of the treatment.Results: Overall analysis showed that the NRS score of patients decreased from 4.95 ± 1.97 before treatment to 3.78 ± 2.03 after treatment (n = 332, difference in NRS score, 1.17; 95% CI: 0.96– 1.38, t = 10.89 p < 0.001). SPADI score decreased from 19.05 ± 20.44 at baseline before treatment to 12.12 ± 17.26 after the last visit, which was statistically significant (n = 332, mean difference in SPADI score, 6.93; 95% CI: 4.71– 9.15, t = 6.150, p < 0.001). No serious adverse event was reported in both groups.Conclusion: This study showed the effectiveness of acupotomy therapy for shoulder pain, and as the treatment sessions increased, the effect of pain reduction and shoulder function improvement were also increased.Keywords: acupotomy, shoulder pain, retrospective study, multicenter study

Keywords

• acupotomy
• shoulder pain
• retrospective study
• multicenter study