The Influence of Donguibogam during the Middle Joseon Era Based on Clinical Records on Low Back Pain in Seungjeongwon ilgi / 의사학

The recently increasing interest in historical records has led to more research on historical records in various fields of study. This trend has also affected medical research, with the medical climate and popular treatment modalities of the past now being revealed based on historical records. However, most research on medical history during the Joseon era has been based on the most well-known record, Joseon wangjo sillok or Annals of the Joseon Dynasty. Joseon wangjo sillok is a comprehensive and organized record of society during the Joseon era and contains key knowledge about medical history during the period, but it lacks details on the treatment of common disorders at the time. Seungjeongwon ilgi or Diary of the Royal Secretariat has detailed records of daily events and is a valuable resource for the daily activities of the era. And in the middle Josoen era, a variety of medical books - especially Donguibogam - was published. Therefore, the authors focused on the under-researched Seungjeongwon ilgi, Donguibogam and attempted to assess and evaluate low back pain treatment performed on Joseon royalty. The most notable characteristic of low back treatment records within the Seungjeongwon ilgi is that diagnosis and treatment was made based on an independent Korean medicine, rather than conventional Chinese medicine. This paradigm shift is represented in Dongeuibogam, and can be seen in the close relationship between Dongeuibogam and national medical exams of the day. Along with the pragmatism of the middle Joseon era, medical treatment also put more focus on pragmatic treatment methods, and records show emphasis on acupuncture and moxibustion and other points in accord with this. The authors also observed meaning and limitations of low back pain treatment during that era through comparison with current diagnosis and treatment.

The Medical History and the Death Cause of Young-Jo Based on the Seungjeongwon Ilgi (Royal Secretariat Logs) / 의사학

Young-Jo, 83 years old, was the longest lived king of the Chosun Dynasty. Seungjeongwon Ilgi gives more detail about the diseases and prescriptions of Young-Jo. We could close look at what the Annals of the Chosun Dynasty just described that king received medical attention. In inspecting Jung-Jo's constitution, to examine his medical history is very important. Yong-jo had a weak constitution, but he was always concerned about health care. Youn-jo complained of colic syndrom and heart fire when young; ascris and shoulder pain since middle age; severe fatigue and gait disturbance caused by edema in his latter years. During his last 20 years, he had taken and resorted to Ken-GongTang, the reason was not psychological disposion, but physical disease. Also, Yong-Jo's condition just before death could be assumed in Seungjeongwon Ilgi and Jonhyeongak Ilgi. According to continuous complaints such as edema of the lower limbs, faint(lethargy) and eating disorder caused by abnormal rising of GI (anorexia), we could presume that the cause of death was uremia. In addition, it has significance to correct feasible misconceaption about the cause of death grounded on The Annals of the Chosun Dynasty.