To observe the clinical effect of acupuncture plus shock-wave (SW) intervention for osteoarthritis (WA), so as to explore its practicability in clinical practice.
A total of 120 cases of knee OA patients were randomly divided into 4 groups, namely acupuncture (acupunct) + LFSW, acupunct + MFSW, acupunct + HFSW and routine acupunct groups, with 30 cases in each group. Xuehai (SP 10) , Liangqiu (ST 34), Yanglingquan (GB 34), Xiyan (ST 35) and Ashi-point were punctured with filiform needles which were manipulated with uniform reinforcing-reducing techniques for 15-20 min, once every other day for 7 times. In addition, these acupoints were also respectively stimulated with shock waves(10 Hz, 14 Hz and 18 Hz, pressure: 1-4 bar) delivered from a DolorClastEMS therapeutic apparatus for 600 times in 3 acupunct+ SW groups. The patients' pain response changes of the knee-joint were assessed by using visual analog scale (VAS) and the motility was evaluated by using a 0-3 grade scale. RESULTS After 7 times of treatment, the patients' VAS scores and motility scores were significantly decreased in the acupunct+ LFSW, acupunct+ MFSW, acupunct+ HFSW and routine acupunct groups compared with their own basic values before treatment (P < 0.01), and the therapeutic effect of the acupunct+ MFSW group was significantly superior to those of the other 3 groups in reducing both VAS and motility scores (P < 0.05). Correspondingly, the Deqi sensation score of the acupunct+ MFSW group was markedly higher than those of the other 3 groups (P < 0.05).
Shock wave acu-puncture treatment is effective in relieving OA patients' knee-joint pain and functional activity, and the therapeutic effect of acu- punct + 14 Hz-SW is better, which is closely with Deqi-sensation.