Combined Effect of Laser Acupuncture and Electroacupuncture in Knee Osteoarthritis Patients

Summary

Background:

Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a common degenerative joint disorder affected 250 million people globally. It can not only result in disability, but also associated with cardiovascular disease and mortality. The most common treatment for KOA is non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. However, the effect of analgesic is limited and may complicate with side effect. Hence, many patients search for complementary and alternative medicine. Acupuncture is one of the most popular complementary treatment with good analgesic effect and less side effect. Electroacupuncture (EA) or laser acupuncture (LA) was reported effective in pain control in knee osteoarthritis patients. However, there is no study about combination effect of EA and LA.

Methods:

This protocol is a randomized controlled trial investigating the combination effect of EA and LA on KOA. Fifty participants diagnosed KOA with aged more than 50 years old and knee pain more than 3 months were recruited and randomly assigned to the experimental group (EA plus LA) or sham group (EA plus LA without laser output) in clinical research center. The subjects will undergo EA plus LA treatment thrice a weeks for 4 weeks. The experimental group will receive acupuncture at GB33, GB34, SP9, SP10, and ST36 with transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulator on the GB34+33 and SP9+10., and the LA deliver 6 Joule of energy at EX-LE5, ST35, and BL40. The subjects in sham group will receive the same way but the LA is without any laser output. Outcome measurement will include visual analogue scale (VAS), Western Ontario McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), Knee injury and osteoarthritis outcome (KOOS), body composition analysis, knee range of motion test, muscle stiffness test, standing on one foot test, and the 30-second chair stand test before intervention and after 4 weeks intervention. The result will be analyze and compared between the experimental group and sham group using the paired t test and one-way analysis of variance.

Objectives:

The aim of this protocol is to investigate the combination effect of EA and LA in KOA patients.

Conditions

• Knee Osteoarthritis

Interventions

DEVICE

Laser Acupuncture

The LA is using a gallium aluminum arsenide LaserPen (maximal power, 150 mW; wavelength, 810nm; area of probe, 0.03cm2; power density, 5W/cm2; pulsed wave; RJ-Laser, Reimers \& Janssen GmbH, Waldkirch, Germany). The LA treatment will be applied to EX-LE5, ST35, and BL40 for 80 seconds, under power 150mW, to deliver a total treatment dose of 6 Joule/ cm2. The EA is the combination of acupuncture and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulator. The transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulator is produced by Ching Ming Medical Device Company. This machine is verified by Department of Health in Taiwan, with the ID number 001147. We perform acupuncture on GB33, GB34, SP9, SP10, and ST36.

DEVICE

Sham Laser Acupuncture

Sham LA is using the same appearance of LaserPen without energy output to perform the same acupoint as above description. Both of the LaserPen in two groups are labeled with A and B, one of them is revised by the company to become the sham LA. The outward of both LaserPen are the same and our physician does not know which one is the real.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Chang Gung Memorial Hospital

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

50 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2019-12-03

Primary Completion

2020-12-31

Completion

2020-12-31

Countries

• Taiwan

Study Locations