Abstract

Background: The study of body constitution in Traditional Medicine (TM) provides a comprehensive assessment of an individual's health status and serves as a foundation for diagnosis, treatment, and disease prevention tailored to each person. The purpose of this study is to determine the distribution of Traditional Medicine body constitutions and clinical characteristics among patients with musculoskeletal disorders at the Hue Traditional Medicine Hospital.

Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 206 patients diagnosed with lumbar spondylosis and/or knee osteoarthritis and/or periarthritis humeroscapularis and/or rheumatoid arthritis. The standardized Constitution in Chinese Medicine Questionnaire (CCMQ) was used to determine the patients’ body constitutions.

Results: Lumbar spondylosis had the highest prevalence among the study population (79.1%). Regarding pain levels assessed by the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), 71.3% of patients reported experiencing moderate to severe pain. Concerning excess and deficiency patterns, the majority of patients exhibited excess patterns (35.9%). In terms of TM body constitutions, Qi deficiency constitution was the most common (58.7%), followed by blood-stasis constitution (46.1%) and Qi stagnation constitution (36.4%). A statistically significant association was observed between TM body constitutions and excess-deficiency patterns with musculoskeletal disorders (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Lumbar spondylosis was the most frequently encountered condition. Among the TM body constitutions, Qi deficiency constitution was the most prevalent. Most patients experienced moderate to severe pain and commonly reported sleep disturbances. There was a significant association between body constitution types and the excess/deficiency patterns among patients with musculoskeletal disorders (p < 0.05).