A Study on the Effectiveness of Herbal Medicine Treatment for 755 Traffic Accident Patients-A Retrospective Review According to the Type of Herbal Medicine Prescription

Objectives: This study conducted a retrospective review to compare the effectiveness of herbal medicine, while confirming the effectiveness of Korean medicine (KM) in traffic accidents (TA). Methods: We investigated the medical records of TA patients who were hospitalized at Muuido Korean medicine hospital from January 2016 to June 2018 retrospectively. Medical records included general characteristics (Gender, age), TA & treatment-related information (Collision type, chief complaint, hospitalization period, and herbal medicine prescription), and clinical scales (Five-scale improvement, numerical rating scale (NRS)). Statistical analysis was performed for data distribution and effectiveness comparison. Results: 755 TA patients showed 0.78:1 gender ratio. 20-50s years old, rear collision, pain in the cervical and lumbar spine, and hospitalization period within 14 days were the majority. KM improved 83.18% of 755 TA patients’ symptoms and ROM over ‘improvement’ level, which indicated 30-70% improvement. With common KM treatments including acupuncture, cupping, heat therapy, and manipulation therapy, TA patients received various herbal medicines and herbal medicine for breaking severe blood stasis (Tongdo-san) showed improvement in both five-scale improvement and NRS change at the same time. Conclusions: We could confirm the effectiveness of KM, particularly herbal medicine in TA. It would be necessary to develop new herbal medicines such as Tongdo-san to treat TA-related symptoms. KCI Citation Count: 0