Effect of Hot-needle Therapy and Herbal Medicine Fuming-washing Combined with Western Medicine on Rheumatoid Arthritis:An Observation of 128 Cases

【Objective】To observe the influence of hot-needle therapy and herbal medicine fuming-washing combined with western medicine for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis(RA).【Methods】One hundred and twenty-eight RA patients were equally randomized into two groups: group A received hot-needle therapy and herbal medicine fuming-washing combined with western medicine of meloxicam,salazosulfamide,and methotrexate,and group B was treated with western medicine only.The treatment lasted one month.Symptoms and signs of early morning stiffness time,grip strength,joints with tenderness count,tenderness index,auricular rest pain,swollen joints count,swelling index as well as the evaluation by the patients themselves and the doctors were observed before and after treatment.Meanwhile,the changes of rheumatoid factor(RF),C-reactive protein(CRP),erythrocyte sedimentation rate(ESR),the white blood cell(WBC) count and platelet(PLT) count were evaluated before and after treatment.【Results】The total effective rate in group A was 78.1%,which was superior to 53.1% in group B(P0.05).After treatment,early morning stiffness time,average grip strength,joints tenderness,auricular swelling were relieved in the two groups as compared with those before treatment(P0.01),and the effect was better in group A than that in group B(P0.01).RF,CRP,ESR,WBC and PLT were decreased in the two groups after treatment(P0.01 compared with those before treatment),in particular CRP,ESR and PLT in group A(P0.01 compared with group B).【Conclusion】The therapeutic effect of hot-needle therapy and herbal medicine fuming-washing combined with western medicine is better for the treatment of RA than western medicine only.