To investigate the application characteristics of different acupuncture-moxibusition (acu-moxi) therapies for knee osteoarthritis (KOA), and to provide a reference for clinical application.
Computer and data mining techniques were used to establish a database of acu-moxi therapies for KOA, and the articles on acu-moxi in the treatment of KOA in the past decade were collected, screened, entered, reviewed, and analyzed. Acu-moxi therapies for KOA were summarized in terms of treatment method, clinical effect, association between treatment method and acupoint selection, needle specifications, and depth of acupuncture.
There are as many as 46 kinds of operation methods to treat knee osteoarthritis, among which moxibustion method has the highest frequency and the most operation methods. Traditional Chinese acupuncture and moxibustion technology has a significant effect on knee osteoarthritis, and the effective rate is more than 90%, among which the minimally invasive technique of traditional Chinese medicine has the highest cure rate and recovery rate. The relationship between traditional Chinese medicine operation and acupoint selection shows that the acupuncture and moxibustion therapy guided by traditional Chinese medicine theory pays more attention to acupoint selection based on syndrome differentiation, while the minimally invasive technique of traditional Chinese medicine is mostly proximal acupoint selection. The diameter of the needle with the highest usage frequency was 0.3 mm. The larger the diameter of the needle, the higher the specificity. The level of acupuncture was mostly tendon, followed by bone. The cure rate of acupuncture to bone is the highest.
Acupuncture and moxibustion has a significant effect in the treatment of KOA, with a profound theoretical basis; treatment of KOA should emphasize overall conditioning, and acupuncture should reach the bone and the tendon, so as to achieve a better clinical effect.