A Study of the Effect of Hachimi-jio-gan on Painful Muscle Cramps (Komuragaeri)

Abstract

A 48% incidence of muscle cramps was found in 150 patients with liver cirrhosis. A 76.7% incidence of muscle cramps was found in patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis, which was statistically higher than a 36.4% incidence in patients with compensated liver cirrhosis.
In order to evaluate the effect of Hachimi-jio-gan on the treatment of muscle cramps in cirrhotic patients, 5g or 7.5g of Hachimi-jio-gan was administered orally to 31 cirrhotic patients (15 patients in the compensated stage and 16 patients in the decompensated stage), who had suffered from muscle cramps at a frequency of more than once a week. The frequency of muscle cramps was found to have decreased in all patients and to have completely disappeared in 19 patients (61.3% of 31 patients) following administration of Hachimi-jio-gan orally for 4 weeks.
The vibration perception threshold (VPT) was examined in 5 cirrhotic patients. The VPT improved in all patients in proportion to the decrease in the frequency of muscle cramps following administration of Hachimi-jio-gan orally.
The effect of Hachimi-jio-gan was compared to the effect of Gorei-san ane Shakuyaku-Kanzo-to on muscle cramps in 11 cirrhotic patients. The effective rates were 100%, 36.4% and 54.5% respectively. Judging from these results, Hachimi-jio-gan can be considered more effective in giving relief from muscle cramps. Hachimi-jio-gan was also effective in giving relief from muscle cramps in 6 cirrhotic patients in which Mecobalamin had no effect.
These results suggest that Hachimi-jio-gan is a useful drug for the treatment of muscle cramps in patients with liver cirrhosis.