Clinical Study of External Application by TCM Differentiation in Treating Knee Osteoarthritis

Objective:To observe the clinical effect of external application by TCM differentiation on knee osteoarthritis(KOA).Methods:One hundred and thirty-one patients with single KOA were randomly divided into treatment group(75 cases) and control group(56 cases).Patients in treatment group were treated with external application of Tongbi Power,Xiaoyu Power,and Jiedu Power by TCM differentiation,while patients in control group were treated with external application of Tongbi Powder.Results:After treatment,the VAS score,knee synovial thickness,arthroedema and the WOMAC score of the 2 groups were both decreased compared with before treatment.The difference in the 2 groups was significant(P0.05).Better results were observed in treatment group in reducing pain,synovial thickness and arthroedema as well as improving joint motion.However,neither of the two groups improved cartilage thickness.As far as the efficacy concerned,the effective rate was 96.0% and 82.1% in treatment group and control group.There was significant difference between the 2 groups(P0.05).Conclusion:The external application by TCM differentiation is effective in treating knee osteoarthritis.