Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 11, 2026

Author Spotlight: Fu's Subcutaneous Needling for Knee Osteoarthritis Pain
Published on: March 24, 2023
Alternatives to Biologics in Management of Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review
Fadi Hassan1, William D Murrell2,3, Andrew Refalo4
1Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham.
Background:
Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a common condition encountered by physicians. KOA is addressed by a wide array of modalities including a number of nonbiological treatments.
Methods:
PubMed, ISI Web of Science, and SPORTDiscus were searched for level 1 to 4 studies published from inception to August 2017.
Results:
A total of 18 studies were evaluated and results demonstrated moderate supporting evidence for prolotherapy and limited evidence for botulinum toxin type A, sodium bicarbonate and calcium gluconate, and low-molecular weight fraction of 5% human serum albumin. Evidence for local anesthetic agents was conflicting.
Conclusion:
There is moderate supportive evidence for the effectiveness of prolotherapy in improving pain and function in both, short-term and long-term. Limited supporting evidence found for botulinum toxin type A, sodium bicarbonate and calcium gluconate, and low-molecular weight fraction of 5% human serum albumin in improving pain and function. There is conflicting evidence for the use of local anesthetic agents in patients with KOA.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Review and Preview
Percentiles are a type of fractile that partition data into...
Review and Preview
Knee Joint
A total of seven ligaments support the knee joint. The patellar ligament, which is also attached to the quadriceps femoris...
Alternative RNA Splicing
There are five types of alternative RNA splicing that vary in the ways the pre-mRNA segments are removed or retained in the mature mRNA. The first...
Random and Systematic Errors
Systematic Sampling Method
Systematic sampling is one of the simplest methods...

