Lee,Jung Hee, Lee,Hyun-Jong, Woo,Sang Ha, Park,Yu-Kyeong, Han,Ji Hoon, Choi,Ga-Young, Heo,Eun Sil, Kim,Jae Soo, Park,Chung A, Lee,Woo Dong, Yang,Chang Sop, Kim,Ae-Ran, Han,Chang-Hyun, Lee,Jung Hee, Lee,Hyun-Jong, Woo,Sang Ha, Park,Yu-Kyeong, Han,Ji Hoon, Choi,Ga-Young, Heo,Eun Sil, Kim,Jae Soo, Park,Chung A, Lee,Woo Dong, Yang,Chang Sop, Kim,Ae-Ran, and Han,Chang-Hyun
Jung Hee Lee,1,* Hyun-Jong Lee,1,* Sang Ha Woo,1 Yu-Kyeong Park,1 Ji Hoon Han,1 Ga-Young Choi,1 Eun Sil Heo,1 Jae Soo Kim,1 Chung A Park,2 Woo Dong Lee,3 Chang Sop Yang,4 Ae-Ran Kim,5 Chang-Hyun Han4,6 1Department of Acupuncture & Moxibustion, College of Korean Medicine, Daegu Haany University, Daegu, Republic of Korea; 2Department of Diagnostics, College of Korean Medicine, Daegu Haany University, Daegu, Republic of Korea; 3Pre-Major of Cosmetics and Pharmaceutics, College of Herbal Bio-Industry, Daegu Haany University, Daegu, Republic of Korea; 4KM Science Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, Republic of Korea; 5Clinical Research Coordinating Team, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, Republic of Korea; 6Korean Convergence Medicine, University of Science & Technology (UST), Campus of Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, Republic of Korea*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Chang-Hyun Han, KM Science Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, 34054, Republic of Korea, Tel +82 42 868 9498, Fax +82 42 869Â 2775, Email chhan@kiom.re.krPurpose: In Korea, complex treatments such as acupotomy, acupuncture, and physical therapy are performed for lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS). Although there are reports of acupotomy as monotherapy or acupuncture treatment for LSS, pragmatic studies are lacking. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the effectiveness and safety of acupotomy for LSS to provide baseline evidence for a large-scale study.Materials and Methods: This pragmatic randomized controlled pilot study enrolled 34 participants and randomly assigned them to two groups (n=17/group). The intervention was conducted for 8 weeks. Acupotomy plus and usual care groups received acupuncture (17 acupoints) and interferential current therapy (ICT) twice weekly; however, the acupotomy plus group received an additional acupotomy (7 acupoints) for treatmen