About the Authors

Jinho Lee

Affiliation Jaseng Spine and Joint Research Institute, Jaseng Medical Foundation, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Joon-Shik Shin

Affiliation Jaseng Spine and Joint Research Institute, Jaseng Medical Foundation, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Yoon Jae Lee

Affiliation Jaseng Spine and Joint Research Institute, Jaseng Medical Foundation, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Me-riong Kim

Affiliation Jaseng Spine and Joint Research Institute, Jaseng Medical Foundation, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Areum Choi

Affiliation Jaseng Spine and Joint Research Institute, Jaseng Medical Foundation, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Jun-Hwan Lee

Affiliations Clinical Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, Republic of Korea, University of Science & Technology (UST), Korean Medicine Life Science, Campus of Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, Republic of Korea

Kyung-Min Shin

Affiliation Clinical Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, Republic of Korea

Byung-Cheul Shin

Affiliation Division of Clinical Medicine, School of Korean Medicine, Pusan National University, Yangsan, Republic of Korea

Jae-Heung Cho

Affiliation Department of Korean Rehabilitation Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

In-Hyuk Ha

hanihata@gmail.com

Affiliation Jaseng Spine and Joint Research Institute, Jaseng Medical Foundation, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Competing Interests

Joon-Shik Shin is the chairman of Jaseng Hospital of Korean Medicine. Yoon Jae Lee is an employee of Jaseng Hospital of Korean Medicine. Me-riong Kim and Areum Choi are employees of Jaseng Medical Foundation. Jinho Lee and In-Hyuk Ha are employees of Jaseng Hospital of Korean Medicine and Jaseng Medical Foundation. Jun-Hwan Lee, Kyung-Min Shin, Byung-Cheul Shin and Jae-Heung Cho have no conflicts of interest to disclose. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization: Jinho Lee JSS YJL IHH. Data curation: ARC IHH. Formal analysis: IHH. Funding acquisition: Jun-Hwan Lee KMS BCS JHC IHH. Investigation: MRK ARC IHH. Methodology: ARC MRK Jun-Hwan Lee KMS BCS JHC IHH. Project administration: Jinho Lee JSS YJL MRK ARC IHH. Resources: Jinho Lee JSS MRK ARC IHH. Supervision: Jinho Lee JSS YJL IHH. Visualization: MRK IHH. Writing – original draft: Jinho Lee JSS YJL MRK ARC IHH. Writing – review & editing: Jun-Hwan Lee KMS BCS JHC IHH.