This research was conducted to compare the effects of drug therapy, physical therapy, and exercise on pain, disability, and depression in patients with chronic low back pain.

The research design of this study was a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design. The subjects of this study were 28 patients for the drug therapy & physical therapy, 24 patients for the drug therapy & exercise, and 22 patients for the physical therapy & exercise. Data was collected by MVAS, Oswestry disability questionnaires, and questionnaires of depression. It was analyzed by paired t-test for effectiveness, ANOVA, and Scheffe for comparison of the effects of the 3 experimental treatments, using SPSS/WIN 12.0.

There were no effects of drug therapy & physical therapy on pain, disability, and depression. However, there were effects of drug therapy & exercise and the physical therapy & exercise on pain, disability, and depression. The effects of physical therapy & exercise on pain, disability, and depression were the greatest, but there was no statistically significant differences between the drug therapy & exercise and the physical therapy & exercise.

Exercise is regarded as a more effective and easily accessible nursing intervention to apply alone than drug therapy or physical therapy simultaneously in reducing pain, disability and depression.

The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of Koryo Hand-Acupuncture on health status(pain, trunk flexion, IADL, depression) of patients with chronic low back pain.

This study used a quasi experimental pre-test and post-test design. Data were collected from December 1st, 2000 to December 20th, 2001. 63 chronic low back pain patients(35 experimental group, 28 control group) admitted to the Back-School and consented to this study. The experimental group participated in treatment : Koryo Hand-Acupuncture and AB-Bong. Two groups was homogeneity. After 4 weeks the effects of treatment on the health status was measured between experimental and control group. Data were analyzed using SPSSWIN 10.0 with crosstab, t-test, and paired t-test.

In the experimental group, pain(t=4.85, p=.000) and IADL difficulty(t=2.05, p=.045) was significantly lower than those in the control group. It makes no difference trunk flexion(t=-1.60, p=.114) and depression(t=1.50, p=.138) between experimental and control group.

These findings indicate that Koryo-Hand Acupuncture is an effective method for reducing pain and IADL difficulty in patients with chronic low back pain, and is considered as a independent nursing intervention for chronic low back pain.

The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of hand acupuncture therapy on pain, ROM, ADL, and depression among older people with low back pain and knee joint pain.

The research was a quasi-experimental design using a non-equivalent control group pre-post test. The participants were 40 patients, 18 in the experimental group and 22 in the control group. A pretest and 2 posttest were conducted to measure the main variables. For the experimental group, hand acupuncture therapy, consisting of hand acupuncture and press-pellets based on corresponding points, was given.

There were statistically significant differences in pain, ROM in knee joint, and ADL in the experimental group but not in depression compared to the control group over two different times.

The hand acupuncture therapy was effective for low back pain, knee joint pain, ROM in knee joint and ADL among the elders in this study. Therefore, the hand acupuncture therapy can be utilized in the field of geriatric nursing as a nursing intervention for older people with low back pain and knee joint pain.

The purpose of this study was to show a relationship between health perception and health promoting behaviors in chronic low back pain patients.

The subjects for this study were 213 persons who the visited hospital with low back pain-related problems.

The higher the levelof the health perception in chronic back pain patients was the higher the rate of the practice of health promoting behaviors (r=0.393, p<.001). The health perception T score was 50.00±10.00. As for health promoting behaviors, the T score was 49.99±10.00. The subscale of the highest mean score was interpersonal support (2.96±0.64) and the subscale of the lowest mean score was exercise (2.13±0.99).

This study showed that chronic low back pain patients had a lower level of perception of their health, and their practice to improve their health was not enough. Therefore, nurses should educate and encourage chronic low back pain patients in proper exercises and correct posture to strengthen and maintain lumbar extension muscle power.