Effect of acupuncture plus exercise on pain and motor function in patients with knee osteoarthritis

Objective: To observe the effects of acupuncture combined with isokinetic eccentric exercise on pain and motor function in patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA). Methods: Sixty-four patients with KOA were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group, with 32 cases in each group. The observation group received acupuncture and isokinetic eccentric exercise, and the control group received isokinetic eccentric exercise and oral intake of meloxicam tablets. Both groups were treated for 4 weeks. Before and after treatment, the visual analog scale (VAS) score, the lysholm knee scale (LKS) score, and the quadriceps peak torque (PT) were evaluated. Results: The total effective rate was 93.8% in the observation group, versus 81.3% in the control group. The difference between the two groups was statistically significant (P<0.05). After treatment, the VAS scores of the two groups were lower than those before the treatment; both LKS score and quadriceps PT were higher than those before treatment, and the differences were statistically significant (all P<0.05). The VAS score, LKS score and quadriceps PT (angular velocity was 60 degrees/s) of the observation group were significantly different from those of the control group (all P<0.05). Conclusion: Acupuncture plus isokinetic eccentric exercise is effective in treating KOA. The combined treatment can reduce the pain of KOA patients, improve joint function, strengthen quadriceps, improve joint stability, and its curative effect is better than isokinetic eccentric exercise plus oral intake of meloxicam tablets.