Table 2.
Length of hospital stay and interventions administered during stay.
| Variables | Long-term follow-up group (n = 367) | Non-long-term follow-up group (n = 157) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | % | Mean | SD | n | % | Mean | SD | |
| Length of hospital stays (days) | 24.90 ± 13.37 | 23.13 ± 12.82 | ||||||
| Complementary and alternative medicine | ||||||||
| Herbal medicinea | 366 | 99.73 | 44.24 | 24.01 | 157 | 100.00 | 40.62 | 20.55 |
| Protocol decoction | 353 | 96.19 | 22.56 | 12.92 | 153 | 97.45 | 21.52 | 12.65 |
| Protocol pills | 366 | 99.73 | 48.01 | 29.05 | 157 | 100.00 | 43.23 | 23.79 |
| Acupuncture | 367 | 100.00 | 37.77 | 21.47 | 157 | 100.00 | 35.03 | 21.05 |
| Pharmacopuncture | 323 | 88.01 | 15.34 | 13.09 | 132 | 84.08 | 14.33 | 13.47 |
| Bee venom pharmacopuncture | 190 | 51.77 | 19.31 | 14.15 | 73 | 46.50 | 20.12 | 11.53 |
| Chuna (Korean manipulation) | 300 | 81.74 | 13.84 | 8.54 | 139 | 88.54 | 12.72 | 7.58 |
| Conventional treatment | ||||||||
| Analgesics (pain killers) | 58 | 15.80 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 31 | 19.75 | 1.58 | 1.15 |
| Nerve blocksb | 37 | 10.08 | 1.08 | 0.28 | 22 | 14.01 | 1.05 | 0.21 |
aHerbal medicine protocol: a standardized herbal medicine prescription was recommended for all patients prior to commencement of the study; however, the protocol allowed for individual tailoring according to patient characteristics and clinical symptoms as seen necessary by KMDs; bmedications such as anesthetics and steroids were injected in close proximity to the lumbar nerve root affected by the herniated disc.