The purpose of this study is to examine musculoskeletal disorders and grasp the relationship between working environment factors and stress and musculoskeletal disorders in dental hygienists. The self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted with 483 dental hygienists working in Gwangju who were selected by convenience sampling. Frequency analysis, crosstab analysis, t-test, and multiple logistic regression analysis were made. Subjects' musculoskeletal disorders that complain of severe pains were 29.8%. The relationship between working environment factors and stress and musculoskeletal disorders were examined. As a result, work break frequency of working environment factors and stress were found to influence musculoskeletal disorders. For working environment factors, the odds ratio of musculoskeletal disorders of the two breaks group was 0.29 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.11∼0.73), compared with the no break group, indicating less musculoskeletal disorders. However, no significant difference was found in one break and more than three breaks groups. The odds ratio of musculoskeletal disorders of stress was 0.44 (95% CI, 0.27∼0.70), indicating negative correlation. As break frequency was moderate (two breaks), musculoskeletal disorders became decreased. Stress showed negative correlation with musculoskeletal disorders.

Sogeunjung-tang (S-tang) is a traditional Korean medicine that has been used for the therapy of anxiety disorder in a variety of clinical situations. However, no study has investigated this effect. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of S-tang for reducing depression in animal model. The antidepressant effect of S-tang was investigated in ICR mice by using forced swimming test (FST). After FST, we analyzed the blood biochemical parameters from blood. The immobility time was significantly decreased in the S-tang oral administration or pharmaceutical acupuncture group compared with the control group at 14 days (p < 0.05). The anti-depressant effect of S-tang was higher than that of fluoxetine (a classical anti-depressant). S-tang or fluoxetine significantly decreased the creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase level compared with the control group (p < 0.05) but not glucose, protein, and blood urea nitrogen level. Further investigation of S-tang as a potential pharmacologic agent in the management of depression related anxiety is warranted.