Abstract

Objective :
The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of inpatients who were admitted to Korea medicine hospital due to neck pain.

Methods :
Four hundred fifty nine neck pain patients who were admitted to Cheonan Korean Medicine Hospital, Daejeon University from 1st, January, 2013 to 31th, December, 2013 were retrospectively reviewed according to medical charts. Characteristics of shoulder pain patients including distribution of disease code, sex, age, motive, interval between onset and visit to Korean medicine hospital, use of west medication, radiological examination, acupuncture, moxibustion and external Korean medicine treatment, Korean medicine physiotherapy, and herb-medication were reviewed according to categorization of diseases causing neck pain.

Results :
1. Most frequently given diagnosis was sprain(70.81%), followed by herniated nucleus pulposus of C-spine(13.73%), cervicobrachial syndrome(2.44%), cervicalgia(3.92%), Etc(4.58%).
2. In distribution according to sex, female outnumbered male patients in all disease groups. In distribution according to age, sprain was most frequent at 30s, herniated nucleus pulposus of C-spine at 50s, cervicobrachial syndrome at 40s, cervicalgia at 30s and 50s.
3. Sprain wast most frequent in October, herniated nucleus pulposus of C-spine in February and August, Cervicobrachial syndrome in February, April, July, September, Cervicalgia in February, April, September.
4. The most frequent motive for neck pain was traffic accident(71.23%), followed by none(15.30%), trauma(5.71%), overuse(4.57%), labor(3.20%).
5. 0∼1 week interval between onset and visit to Korean Medicine Hospital was most frequent in all disease groups.
6. Patients with first occurrence were 86.10% while patients with relapse were 13.90%.
7. Patients who were not prescribed with pain medication(79.22%) outnumbered patients who were prescribed with pain medication(20.78%). Pain medication was most frequently prescribed to herniated nucleus pulposus of C-spine(34.92%), followed by cervicobrachial syndrome(31.25%), sprain(17.54%), cervicalgia(11.11%).
8. 45.21% of patients went through outpatient treatment at medical institutions before the admitting to Cheonan Korean Medicine Hospital.
9. The average admission days was 10.47±9.71 days. The average admission days of sprain was 9.32±8.02 days, herniated nucleus pulposus of C-spine was 13.56±11.12 days, cervicobrachial syndrome was 17.00±12.17 days, cervicalgia was 9.28±12.10 days.
10. The average treatment result was 2.84±0.99 and in most(70%) of the patients, symptoms were more than improved. The average treatment result of sprain was 2.80±1.01, followed by cervicalgia(2.89±1.13), cervicobrachial syndrome(2.91±0.82), herniated nucleus pulposus of C-spine(3.00±0.95).
11. Most frequently conducted radiological examination was X-ray(91.10%), followed by magnetic resonance imaging(18.04%), computed tomography(2.74%) and radionuclide scanning(1.14%).
12. Most frequently given Korean medicine treatment was acupuncture(97.26%), followed by moxibustion(83.79%).
13. Most frequently given physiotherapy was cupping therapy(96.80%), followed by infra-red(95.43%) hot pack(90.18%).
14. Most frequently prescribed herb medicine was GyeontongC(JiantongC)(8.50%), YogaktongG(Yaojiao-tongG)(7.63%).

Conclusion :
In this study, people in their 30s, females, within 0∼2weeks after onset, motivated by traffic accident, diagnosed with neck sprain, with no medical history related to neck pain, underwent outpatient treatment at medical institutions, took the highest percentage from each category of patients who admitted to Korean Medicine Hospital due to neck pain. In most(78.77%) of the patients, symptoms were more than improved.