Research progress of moxibustion therapy in treatment of knee osteoarthritis

Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a chronic, common and frequent disease that is based on degenerative physical changes, and characterized by joint cartilage degeneration and decrease, together with joint edge and subchondral bone regeneration. It can occur in both men and women. In recent years, the research on the traditional Chinese medicine treatment of KOA has been heated up and made great progress. The main traditional Chinese medicine treatment methods include oral administration and external use of Chinese medicine and acupuncture, moxibustion as well asmassage.Among them, moxibustion has the effect of warming the channels and collaterals, and it has become one of the hot research topics for treating KOA nowadays. There are many moxibustion methods for the treatment of KOA, including suppurative moxibustion, hovering moxibustion, thermal moxibustion, sandwiched moxibustion, needle warming moxibustion, moxibustion combined with other traditional Chinese medicine therapies and so on. In this study, the author reviews moxibustion therapies on KOA in recent years briefly, and puts forward the existing problems and future development direction. Key words: Osteoarthritis, knee; Moxibustion; Review