Therapeutic Observation of Early-stage and Mid-stage Knee Osteoarthritis Treated with Warm Needling

Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of warm needling in treating knee osteoarthritis of early and middle stage. Method A hundred patients with knee osteoarthritis of early and middle stage were randomized into a treatment group and a control group, 50 in each group. The treatment group was intervened by warm needling, while the control group was by moxibustion with moxibustion box. The clinical efficacies of the two groups were observed and compared. Result The total effective rate was 90.0% in the treatment group versus 78.0% in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant(P0.05). Respectively after 1 treatment course and 2 treatment courses, the two groups both had significant changes in Lysholm score(P 0.05). After 2 treatment courses, the treatment group was significantly different from the control group in comparing Lysholm score(P0.05). Conclusion Warm needling is an effective approach in treating knee osteoarthritis of early and middle stage.