서베이앤헬스폴리시리서치센터

Telephone Survey on the Use of Moxibustion Therapy by Traditional Korean Medicine Doctors

한국 한의사들의 뜸 요법 사용에 관한 전화조사

Summary

Objectives: To systematically investigate the common methodology as well as the current status in the use of moxibustion therapy by licensed traditional Korean medicine doctors who graduated from six-year regular programs offered by the colleges of oriental medicine in Korea. By establishing a background understanding of the current uses of moxibustion in Korea, we sought to provide a foundation by which we could begin to improve the training and development of moxibustion techniques in Korean oriental medicine.  

Method: From November to December 2009, a national telephone survey based on a computer-assisted interviewing system was conducted for a representative sample (of 331) randomly selected from a list of traditional Korean medicine clinics.

Results: Most traditional Korean medicine doctors were male (89.5%) and aged 40-59 years (58.8%). Over half of them (57.9%) had more than 10 years of clinical experience. The estimated proportion of traditional Korean medicine doctors using moxibustion to treat patients was 69.0%, with a margin of error of 4.95 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. The vast majority of all respondents (89.0%) stated that the heat of the moxa played an important role in the curative effects. Of the doctors who used moxibustion, more than 90% used fewer than six acupoints for each moxibustion treatment. Almost three-quarters (74.0%) spent less than 20 minutes on each treatment session. The disease most often treated with moxibustion was musculoskeletal disorder (48.6%). The majority of doctors (74.1%) primarily used ‘modified moxibustion,’ which employs moxibustion devices or products, while one-fifth (18.4%) primarily used ‘traditional moxibustion’ and only 7.5% used both in roughly equal proportions. The most commonly used traditional method was non-scarring moxibustion. The most frequently experienced adverse effects were blisters, followed by skin reddening, itchy skin, and skin burns.

Conclusion: We conducted the first comprehensive national survey of oriental medicine doctors in Korea. Moxibustion was found to be a popular therapy among these doctors, and there exists a variety of common methodologies, views, or experiences on the therapy. These results would provide a starting point for further research obtaining more details on the practical use of moxibustion, which helps standardize or restructure the moxibustion training and technique development in Korea and other countries.