This study aimed to understand the current status of clinical practice patterns of Korean medicine in the treatment of degenerative arthritis of the hip and finger joints using web-based survey.

An e-mail questionnaire survey was conducted with the Korean Medicine Doctor(K.M.D) registered in the Korean Medicine Association. The survey data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel.

Although the response rate of the survey was low, the characteristics of the respondents generally reflected the characteristics of the study population. A total of 35.2% of the respondents had heard of the guidelines; however, they did not use them for medical treatment. The reason as answered by 32.8% of the respondents was “not enough treatment time to check the manual and apply it.” More than half (78.80%) answered that they were treating patients with both degenerative hip and finger arthritis; however, the average monthly number of first-time patients was ≤5. A total of 379 (60.9%) respondents answered that “acupuncture is very important,” which was the only one that exceeded the majority compared to other treatments. As a result of the safety investigation, “Acupuncture, herbal medicine, cupping” were considered high in safety, while “Pharmacopuncture and Bee venom acupuncture” were considered low in safety.

This survey helped to determine the current clinical practice patterns of Korean medicine treatments, further providing basic data for CPGs for degenerative arthritis of the hip and finger joints.