• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.508-515
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• 2016

Objective: The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of a five-week auricular acupressure (AA) program on smoking cessation for male high school students.Methods: From May 27 2015 to November 18 2015, this study investigated 66 high school students who had been smoking. More than four sessions of AA were given to participants, and surveys were conducted before each treatment. Once a week, the AA was administered at the endocrine point, lung point, throat point, nasal fossae point, bronchial tube point, and mouth point.Result: Thirty-four (51.5%) students reduced their number of cigarettes smoked per day, while 17 (25.7%) students complained of side effects.Conclusions: Results show that AA is generally effective, and side effects occur less often than with anti-smoking acupuncture. So AA could be preferred on smoking cessation for students.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.75-86
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• 2020

This study examined the effects of auricular acupressure on the pain and quality of life of lung cancer patients. Forty-four participants, and were divided into an experimental group (n=22) and a placebo control group (n=22). The patients in the experimental group received vaccaria seed to the four auricular acupressure points. In contrast, the patients in the placebo control groups received auricular acupressure on cancer-related points unrelated to pain. The intervention was implemented for six weeks, with five consecutive days a week. The pain intensity, pain pressure threshold, and quality of life score were used to validate the effects of the treatment. The pain intensity of the experimental group showed a significant decrease compared to the placebo control group after the intervention (Z=-2.78, p=.006). The pain pressure threshold of the experimental group showed a significant increase compared to the placebo control group after the intervention (Z=-2.69, p=.007). The quality of life among lung cancer patients showed a significant increase after the intervention compared to the placebo control group (t=3.20, p=.003). Therefore, auricular acupressure can be used as a proven nursing intervention method for lung cancer patients from cancer-related pain and the quality of life.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.258-266
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• 2022

This study aimed to analyze auricular acupressure and auricular acupuncture used in smoking cessation research by analyzing published randomized controlled trials. Eight databases (PubMed, Cochrane, EMBASE, CNKI, CiNII, KMbase, KISS, OASIS) were searched until December 2021, and 21 out of 1,919 studies met inclusion criteria. Data on the treatment site, time, frequency, period, and outcomes were analyzed. Lung (MA-IC1) and Ear Shenmen (MA-TF1) were the most used acupoints. The number of treatments varied between a minimum of 2 to a maximum of 24, and treatment duration varied between a minimum of 2 weeks to a maximum of 8 weeks. Cigarette consumption and smoking cessation rate were the most studied outcome, followed by multiple other psychological indications.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.348-358
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of auricular acupressure in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Data collection was conducted from March 16 to May 11, 2018. A total of 44 participants with type 2 diabetes were recruited from welfare facilities. Participants in the experimental group (n=22) and placebo control group (n=22) received auricular acupressure on diabetes-related points (shenmen, pancreas, appetite control point, thirst point, and master endocrine point) and diabetes-unrelated points. The intervention was implemented on 5 consecutive days per week for a total of 6 weeks. To examine the effects of treatment, postprandial glucose, glycated hemoglobin, and blood lipid levels were evaluated. Postprandial glucose levels in the experimental group exhibited significant reduction over time compared to those in the placebo control group (p=.030). Glycated hemoglobin levels in the experimental group decreased significantly (t=-2.44, p=.024). However, there were no significant differences in blood lipid levels between the two groups. This study demonstrates that auricular acupressure on diabetes-related points for 6 weeks was highly effective in decreasing blood glucose levels in patients with type 2 diabetes.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.116-126
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• 2020

This study analyzed the effects of auricular acupressure on improving sleep disorders of the elderly. The data was collected from domestic and foreign databases. The keywords were 'auricular,' 'sleep,' 'insomnia, and so on. RoB and RoBANS were used to evaluate the risk of bias in the selected literature. Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3. Seven of 386 studies were selected. Regarding the sleep score, those studies with an intervention period of less than four weeks showed WMD of 25.66 (95% CI; 20.18 to 31.14), which was significantly higher than that of the control group. Similarly, the studies with an intervention period longer than four weeks had significantly higher WMD than that of the control group, and the former exhibited WMD of 8.59 (95% CI: 6.26 to 10.92). In contrast, sleep satisfaction was significantly higher in the studies with a maintenance period of three days or less, which resulted in SMD of 13.37 (95% CI: 5.29 to 21.45). The score in the studies with a maintenance period longer than four days was significantly higher than that of the control group with SMD of 2.27 (95% CI: 1.82 to 2.72). Auricular acupressure was effective in alleviating sleep disorders among the elderly in terms of both sleep quality and sleep satisfaction.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.93-100
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• 2010

Background: Auricular acupressure is one of the traditional health care treatments in oriental medicine. Approximately, 30~40% of the cancer patients have said to be suffering from insomnia and half of them having chronic and severe insomnia at the same time. Insomnia caused cancer patients feel more pain, fatigue, depression and anxiety and it sometimes let the power to have the best of cancer pull down. Objective: To investigate how effective the auricular acupressure treatment to cancer patients suffering from insomnia. Methods: We recruited participants from East-West Cancer Center of Daejeon University. Finally, of the people whose age range from 20 to 75, 12 patients who got less than 40 points from the score of Oh's sleeping score (OSS) were recruited. Single-blind, randomized pilot study was performed. The treatment group received auricular acupressure treatment (AAT) on active points and the control group had received sham acupressure treatment (SAT) for five times. Sleep parameters were checked by using OSS and numeric rating scale (NRS). We checked the scale everytime, both before and after treatment. We analyzed the data statistically by using independent T-test, paired T-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) test. (p<0.05) Results: Twelve cancer patients participated in this pilot study and there was no significant difference between control and treatment group. Only 7 of them had completed the whole treatment process, 4 patients of AAT group and 3 participants of SAT. The OSS of AAT group had increased from $34.0{\pm}4.3$ to $39.5{\pm}3.1$ and that of SAT group had increased from $38.3{\pm}3.5$ to $40.0{\pm}0.0$. There was no significant difference between them. The NRS of AAT group had increased from $6.3{\pm}2.9$, $04.8{\pm}2.1$ and that of SAT group had increased from $7.0{\pm}1.0$ to $5.0{\pm}2.6$. No significant difference was observed between them. Conclusion: Although both groups did not show significant differences, most of the experimental participants showed increasing OSS and NRS after treatments. Significant participants' number will be needed in the next study.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.1202-1209
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• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to confirm the effects of an auricular acupressure (AA) program for smoking cessation in high school students from 2015 to 2017. Methods: The study investigated 12 high school students who had been smokers. Subjects were treated for three years. Each program was composed of five AA treatments. Average daily smoking and adverse reactions were checked for one week before each procedure. The AA was administered weekly at the endocrine point, lung point, throat point, nasal fossae point, bronchial tube point, and mouth point. Results: The mean number of cigarettes smoked per day after each year of treatment significantly decreased from 5.33±3.58 to 3.54±2.08 in 2015 (p=0.046). However, it increased from 5.75±2.30 to 6.00±3.61 in 2017 (p=0.80). The number of cigarettes smoked before treatment was found to be higher than the number of cigarettes after treatment in the previous year. No significant results were obtained from analysis of the change in the amount of smoking within each year. Conclusion: Social influence, such as the subject's academic stress and peer relationships, may have been a major factor in the change in the amount of smoking. Although the AA did not show a strong effect in smoking cessation, it appears to have value as a supplementary means of stopping smoking.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.625-642
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• 2022

Objectives: Postoperative ileus (POI) is a common impairment of gastrointestinal motility and causes a delay in postoperative recovery, as well as an increased length of hospital stay, but no single strategy has a significant recuperative effect on POI. Studies of traditional Korean medicine (TKM) have reported improvements in bowel function after surgery. The aim of this systematic review was to assess the effectiveness of TKM on postoperative ileus in gastric cancer patients. Methods: We used six databases to search for studies published from January 1, 2007, until May 11, 2022. The included studies were those reporting gastric cancer patients who received TKM treatment after gastrectomy through indicators related to POI. Results: The search identified 27 RCTs that used herbal medicine (Daegeonjung-tang and Gami-leejoongtang), herbal medicine combined with acupuncture (Sama-tang, Gumiseunggi-tang, Daeseunggi-tang, and Insam-tang), acupuncture, acupuncture and moxibustion, electroacupuncture, warm needling, transcutaneous electroacupuncture (TEA), low-frequency electrical acupoint stimulation (LEAS), moxibustion, auricular acupressure, and ST-36 acupoint injection with neostigmine as treatments for POI. The time to first flatus was shortened by herbal medicine combined with warm needling (Sama-tang, Gumiseunggi-tang, Daeseunggi-tang, and Insam-tang), acupuncture, electroacupuncture, warm needling, TEA, moxibustion, auricular acupressure, and ST-36 acupoint injection with neostigmine (p<0.00001). The time to the first defecation decreased significantly in response to the herbal medicine combined with warm needling (Sama-tang, Gumiseunggi-tang, Daeseunggi-tang, and Insam-tang), acupuncture, electroacupuncture, warm needling, TEA, moxibustion, auricular acupressure, and ST-36 acupoint injection with neostigmine (p<0.00001). No serious adverse events occurred. Conclusions: TKM could be a promising option for preventing and resolving POI in gastric cancer patients after gastrectomy.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.546-559
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• 2020

This study examined the effects of manipulative therapy interventions applied to alleviate menstrual discomfort caused by premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and dysmenorrhea. To identify all relevant articles, a search of the articles published from inception up to May 31, 2018 revealed 1,808 studies in eleven databases. Two researchers independently evaluated the quality assessment of theses for 30 studies (31 reports) that satisfied the inclusion criteria using RoB (Ris of Bias) and RoBANS (Risk of Bias Assessment tool for Non-randomized Studies). The data were analyzed by meta-analysis. The effect sizes of the intervention applied to alleviate PMS were -1.20 (95% confidence intervals (CI): -1.55 to -0.86) for foot reflexology, -0.44 (95% CI: -0.68 to -0.20) for auricular acupressure therapy, and -0.56 (95% CI: -0.80 to -0.32) for acupressure therapy. The effect sizes of the intervention applied to alleviate dysmenorrhea were -0.64 (95% CI: -1.07 to -0.20) for foot reflexology, -1.09 (95% CI: -1.46 to -0.71) for auricular acupressure therapy, and -0.75 (95% CI: -1.00 to -0.50) for acupressure therapy, -0.68 (95% CI: -1.08 to -0.27) for massage. This study suggests that the manipulative therapy is effective in alleviating the menstrual discomfort caused by dysmenorrhea and PMS.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.120-132
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• 2017

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine clinical studies on the treatment of dysmenorrhea treatments and analyze the results to provide sufficient evidence to provide adequate evidence of the efficacy of the ear-acupuncture treatment on dysmenorrhea patients. Methods: The search for foreign papers used 'Pubmed', a research engine in the America National Library of Medicine. Used searching terms were 'dysmenorrhea' and 'menstrual pain' in all cases. And among these studies, we searched by using key word 'auricular acupuncture' or 'ear acupuncture' or 'auricular acupressure' or 'ear acupressure'. Results: Overall 53 studies, 7 studies were finally selected to this study. There was 1 controlled study, 3 clinical trials, and 3 randomized-control studies. About acupoints in study, the endocrine was used in all 7 papers. Internal genitals, shenmen, sympathesis, kidney, liver were used in 4 papers, central rim, hypo-cortex, uterus were used in 2 papers, central of cymba auriculae was used in 2 paper. In 4 papers, the effect of ear acupuncture treatment was effective in relieving menstrual pain. Moreover, we can see that ear acupuncture therapy was effective in reducing menstrual pain than in oriental herb medicine. Conclusions: As a result of the 7 papers, we found that patients with menstrual pain decreased after ear acupuncture therapy. However, there was little research and it was limited to achieving the results of the analysis. A vigorous clinical study should be conducted to demonstrate the efficacy of ear acupuncture therapy and standardize treatment methods.