Comparative Study between Fire Needling and Warm Needling Therapies for Knee Osteoarthritis

Objective To explore the action efficacy of fire needling and warm needling therapies in treating knee osteoarthritis(KOA),and to compare the therapeutic effect of the two methods.Method Seventy-two KOA patients were randomized into a fire needling group and a warm needling group,36 in each group.In both groups,Ashi points(topical tender points),Dubi(ST36),Neixiyan(EX-LE4),Xuehai(SP10),Liangqiu(ST34),and Yanglingquan(GB34) were selected as the major points to receive fire needling and warm needling respectively,three times a week and 4 weeks as a treatment course.The therapeutic efficacy was evaluated by adopting Western Ontario and McMaster Universities(WOMAC) osteoarthritis index,disease severity index,and comprehensive therapeutic efficacy before treatment and after 1 treatment course.Result Both interventions were effective.The recovery and markedly effective rate was 66.7% in fire needling group versus 44.1% in warm needling group,and the difference was statistically significant(P0.05),but the inter-group difference in total effective rate was insignificant(P0.05).Fire needling group achieved obvious relief of joint pain(P0.05).Conclusion Both fire needling and warm needling are effective in treating KOA,while fire needling has obvious analgesic effect and better therapeutic efficacy compared to warm needling.