Clinical study on treatment of knee osteoarthritis with combined acupuncture and medication

Objective: To observe the effect of treatment for proliferative knee osteoarthritis (KOA) using combined acupuncture and medicated compression. Method: All 328 cases were randomized into an observation and control group, 164 cases in each. Combined acupuncture and medicated compression were adopted in the observation group, while oral administration of Zhui Feng Tou Gu Wan (Wind-removing and Bone-penetrating Pills) were adopted in the control group. The clinical effects in the two groups were evaluated 40 days after the treatment. Result: There were significant differences in both marked and total effective rates (P< 0.05). Conclusion: Combined acupuncture and medicated compression can obtain better effect for KOA than oral administration of the Wind-Removing and Bone-Penetrating pills. © 2009 Shanghai Research Institute of Acupuncture and Meridian.