수족자극요법이 요부통증 및 스트레스에 미치는 효과

Abstract

The hand-foot-acupressure therapy using hand-acupressure-massage and acupressure-tools stimulates acupuncture-points where gyeongmaek and Nakmaek meet. The acupressure therapy is known to be helpful to ease physical pain and maintain mental health by smoothing the currents of ki in human body. The aim of this study is for the statistical estimation on how much the hand-foot-acupressure therapy will relieve pain of backache patients and physical and psychological stresses derived from mental labor. The subjects of this study were mental workers like white collar workers and computer-related workers. Among total forty subjects who accorded with the study criteria, twenty subjects were randomly assigned to experimental group, the other twenty persons to control group. The stimulation of acupuncture-points and the reflexology for experimental group were performed in such a way as to rub, pat and press hands and foots three times a week for four weeks, but not done to control group. It was also measured whether there were variations in the degree of pain of backache patients and physical and psychological stresses derived from mental labor before and after the therapies. The data analysis was performed by the frequency analysis of Predictive Analytics Software and the degree of pain was measured through Paired-Samples T-test. After the experiment, T-test was performed for the average comparison between the two groups. The reliability of measuring tools was tested in such a way to calculate Cronbach's α value and to maintain statistical significance level in p<0.05. The results were as follows; The degree of subjective backache in experimental group decreased from 5.44 to 2.11 on average and showed significant difference (t=18.097, p=0.01) in visual analogue scale (VAS), but the degree in control group decreased from 4.79 to 4.87 on average and showed insignificant difference. The degree of sensory and affective backache in experimental group decreased from 2.58 to 1.85 on average and showed significant difference (t=6.714, p=0.01) in Short Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ), but the degree in control group increased from 2.45 to 2.64 and showed insignificant difference. The degree of physical stress in experimental group decreased from 3.16 to 2.13 and showed significant difference (p=0.01), but the degree in control group decreased from 2.77 to 2.88 and showed insignificant difference. The degree of psychological stress in experimental group decreased from 3.17 to 1.95 and showed significant difference (t=15.217, p=0.01), but the degree in control group decreased from 2.81 to 2.78 and showed insignificant difference. It was verified through this study that hand-foot-acupressure therapy by means of the hand acupressure massage and the acupressure tools had decreased pain of backache patients and mitigated physical and psychological stresses caused by mental labor. Therefore, hand-foot-acupressure therapy is thought to be probably the effective method for the mitigation of pain of backache patients and the relieve of physical and psychological stresses derived from mental labor.

Keywords: Backache, Hand-foot-acupressure therapy, Stress