Abstract: Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a kind of chronic joint disease characterized by articular cartilage degeneration and secondary bone hyperplasia. A large number of clinical studies showed that TCM external treatment such as sticking therapy had a significant effects on KOA without obvious side effects， low price and easy operation， and was worthy of in-depth study. This article will discuss the syndrome differentiation， treatment strategy， curative effect advantages and mechanism of TCM application in the treatment of KOA， so as to provide new ideas for clinical diagnosis and treatment of KOA.