Acupoint Application Treatment for Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta analysis

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy of acupoint application in the management of knee osteoarthritis. METHODS The related literatures on the treatment of knee osteoarthritis were retrieved from CNKI， VIP， Wanfang， PubMed and Embase. The experimental group was treated with acupoint application or combined with other therapies， and the control group was treated with western medicine. RevMan 5.3 software was used for meta-analysis. RESULTS A total of 11 randomized controlled trials were included， involving 1 102 patients. Acupoint application or combined with other therapies was superior to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis. The difference was statistically significant OR=3.45， 95%CI(1.52，7.83)， P=0.001， which is equivalent to the efficacy of furazolidone emulsion and pain point blocking therapy， improving the VAS score SMD=1.63， 95%CI (0.38， 2.89)， P=0.01 and Lysholm knee score SMD=2.62， 95% CI (1.30， 3.95)， P= 0.0001 and other aspects than the control group， the difference was statistically significant. The improvement in the WOMAC score was comparable to the control group， the difference was not statistically significant SMD=-0.65， 95%CI (-1.73，0.43)， P=0.24. CONCLUSION Acupoint application or combined with other non-western medical methods is effective for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis and is worthy of clinical promotion.