["Warming-promotion acupuncture" on knee osteoarthritis:a randomized controlled trial]

Area of Science:

• Integrative and Complementary Medicine
• Orthopedics
• Pain Management

Context:

• Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a prevalent degenerative joint disease causing pain and disability.
• Current treatments include pharmacotherapy, physical therapy, and surgical interventions.
• Acupuncture represents a traditional therapeutic modality with growing clinical investigation for musculoskeletal conditions.

Purpose:

• To compare the clinical efficacy of three distinct acupuncture techniques and acupoint injection for managing knee osteoarthritis (KOA).
• To evaluate warming-promotion acupuncture against mild reinforcing-reducing acupuncture and sodium hyaluronate injections.
• To determine the superior treatment modality for improving symptom and sign scores in KOA patients.

Summary:

• A randomized study involving 90 KOA patients compared warming-promotion acupuncture (Group A), mild reinforcing-reducing acupuncture (Group B), and sodium hyaluronate injections (Group C).
• Group A demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in symptom and sign scores compared to Groups B and C (P<0.05).
• The total effective rate was 100% for warming-promotion acupuncture, significantly higher than mild reinforcing-reducing acupuncture (90%) and sodium hyaluronate injections (73.33%).

Impact:

• Warming-promotion acupuncture exhibits superior clinical efficacy in treating knee osteoarthritis compared to conventional acupuncture methods and intra-articular injections.
• This finding supports warming-promotion acupuncture as a highly effective, evidence-based therapeutic option for KOA management.
• The study highlights the potential of targeted acupuncture techniques to significantly improve patient outcomes and quality of life in KOA.