Objective To investigate the clinical effect of warm acupuncture combined with distinctive traditional Chinese medicine practices on knee function and bone metabolism in patients with knee osteoarthritis.
Methods One hundred and eight patients with knee osteoarthritis were randomly divided into two groups, with 54 cases in each group. The patients in the control group were given diclofenac sodium; while the patients in the observation group were given warm acupuncture combined distinctive traditional Chinese medicine practices. Before and after the treatment, the renal function indicators (HSS), bone metabolism (OPG, CT, BGP), serum-related factors in cartilage repair (TGF-β, IGF-1, FGF-2), inflammatory factor (TNF-α, IL-1) of the two groups were detected. And the total effective rate of two groups were accounted.
Results After the treatment, the HSS indexes of the observation group were significantly increased (
P < 0. 05), and significantly higher than those of control group (
P < 0. 05). The OPG and BGP levels of both groups were significantly improved (
P < 0. 05), and the OPG and BGP levels of the observation group were significantly higher than those of control group (
P < 0. 05). After the treatment, TGF-β, IGF-1 and FGF-2 levels of the observation groups were significantly increased (
P < 0. 05), and significantly higher than those of control group (
P < 0. 05). After the treatment, TNF-αand IL-1 levels of the two groups were significantly improved (
P < 0. 05), and the TNF-αand IL-1 levels of the observation group were significantly higher than those of the control group (
P < 0. 05). The total effective rate of the observation group was 90. 7%, which was significantly higher than that of the control group (68. 5%,
P < 0. 05).
Conclusion The warm acupuncture combined with distinctive traditional Chinese medicine practices could effectively improve the inflammation, knee function and bone metabolism of patients with knee osteoarthritis, with satisfactory effect.
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