Efficacy of Electro-acupuncture Versus Manual Acupuncture on Knee Osteoarthritis

Summary

Knee osteoarthritis (KOA), also called degenerative knee disease, is one of the most common bone and joint diseases in clinic. It often occurs in middle-aged people, especially women. It was estimated to affect more than 9 million individuals in the United States in 2005 and is a leading cause of disability and medical costs. Most elderly people over the age of 65 have radiographic and/or clinical evidence of osteoarthritis. KOA is a lifelong disease which can lead to obvious pain, joint stiffness, limitation of activity and even joint failure or disability.According to the papers published in the past years, we find that acupuncture therapy for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis include manual acupuncture, electro-acupuncture, acupotomy, laser acupuncture, fire needle and so on, among which manual acupuncture and electro-acupuncture are most commonly used.The aim of this study is to compare the effectiveness of electro-acupuncture and manual acupuncture in reducing pain and improving function in patients with KOA.

Conditions

• Osteoarthritis Of Knee

Interventions

DEVICE

Electro-acupuncture

Patients in this group will be treated by use of 6-7 local acupuncture points (ST34, ST35, ST36, EX-LE2, EX-LE5, GB33, GB34, SP9, SP10, LR7, LR8 and Ashi) and 2-3 distal points (GB31, GB36, GB39, GB41, ST40, ST41, LR3, BL60, SP6 and KI3). Needles will be stimulated manually for 10 seconds to achieve "De Qi" sensation and an electrical apparatus (HANS-200A acupoint nerve stimulator, Nanjing Jisheng Medical Co., Ltd. production, wave of 2/100Hz) will be then connected to the needles with alligator clips to stimulate the needles in pairs ST36-SP9/GB34 and ST34-SP10. The stimulus intensity will be increased until the patient reports a strong but comfortable intensity.

DEVICE

Manual acupuncture

Participants in the group have the same schedule as the electro-acupuncture group except that the electrical apparatus has working power indicator and sound without actual current output.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Beijing Friendship Hospital

  collaborator OTHER

• Beijing Jishuitan Hospital

  collaborator OTHER

• zhouping

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Cunzhi Liu, M.D · Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

TRIPLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

45 Years

Max Age

75 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2017-09-30

Primary Completion

2017-12-31

Completion

2018-02-28

Countries

• China

Study Locations