Oriental medicine and chronic wound care: Theory, practice, and research

Department

Health Promotion

Document Type

Article

Publication Source

Ostomy Wound Management

Publication Date

2013-01-01

Volume

59

Issue

1

First Page

36

Last Page

46

Abstract

In East Asian countries, oriental medicine (OM) has been used for thousands of years to manage a wide variety of chronic wounds, but in western countries the role of OM in wound care remains to be established. To summarize current practices and available evidence of OM in the management of chronic wounds, a search of Chinese and English databases was conducted and summarized with an emphasis on randomized controlled trials, clinical trials, and meta-analyses of topical and systemic OM treatments. Hundreds of reports were identified, mostly in the Chinese literature, but few randomized controlled clinical studies have been conducted. Available preclinical and clinical evidence suggests there may be a role for OM modalities, especially herbal medicine, in the management of chronic wounds. Before conducting the needed rigorous clinical studies, wound care experts should agree on and help standardize herbal formulations-a unique challenge for the usually individualized OM approach to care. However, the literature suggests uncovering pathways for future research may help patients all over the world benefit from the thousands of years of documented experience managing chronic wounds with OM.

Keywords

medicinal herbs, oriental medicine, review literature, treatment, wounds

https://www.o-wm.com/article/oriental-medicine-and-chronic-wound-care-theory-practice-and-research

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