Clinical Observation of 40 Cases of Chondromalacia Patellae Treated with Fire Needling Therapy

Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of chondromalacia patellae( CP) treated with fire needling therapy and warm needling therapy and compare the efficacy between these two therapies. Methods Eighty cases of CP were randomized into a treatment group and a control group,40 cases in each one.In the treatment group,the fire needling therapy was used. In the control group,the warm needling therapy was adopted,twice a week,treated for 4 weeks. WOMAC scale was adopted to evaluate the efficacy in terms of knee joint pain,stiffness and function impairment in the patients in 2 weeks and 4 weeks after treatment separately. Results Compared with the results before treatment,the differences were significant in 4 weeks after treatment in the two groups( P 0. 01). In comparison between the treatment group and the control group,the differences in the scores of knee joint pain,stiffness and function impairment in WOMAC scale were significant in 4 weeks after treatment( P 0. 05). The score of each item in WOMAC was closely related to the treatment time in the patients of the two groups and the differences among different time points were significant( P 0. 01). Conclusion Both fire needling therapy and warm needling therapy are effective in treatment of CP and the efficacy of fire needling therapy is superior to the warm needling therapy.