Korean Oriental Medicine in Stroke Care

Korean Oriental medicine (KOM), known as Hanbang in Korea, is the primary health care system for more than 20% of the population in Korea. Often integrated with allopathic Western medicine, it has been used and studied extensively in Korea for a variety of conditions, including stroke and Parkinson’s disease. Although KOM shares its origins with traditional Chinese medicine, its unique cultural contributions include a number of innovations in diagnosis and technique, such as Sasang constitutional medicine, Saam acupuncture, herbal acupuncture, and Korean hand acupuncture. This article reviews the development and use of KOM in Korea, focusing on a major component, Sasang constitutional medicine. It describes a preliminary study of effectiveness of Sasang constitutional medicine in the treatment of stroke and discusses the directions of future research in KOM.