Journal of Pain Research (Jun 2020)

Mechanism of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Treating Knee Osteoarthritis

  • Wang M,
  • Liu L,
  • Zhang CS,
  • Liao Z,
  • Jing X,
  • Fishers M,
  • Zhao L,
  • Xu X,
  • Li B

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 13
pp. 1421 – 1429

Abstract

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Mina Wang,1,2 Lu Liu,1,3 Claire Shuiqing Zhang,4 Zehuan Liao,5,6 Xianghong Jing,3 Marc Fishers,7 Luopeng Zhao,1,8 Xiaobai Xu,1 Bin Li1 1Acupuncture and Moxibustion Department, Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Capital Medical University, Beijing Key Laboratory of Acupuncture Neuromodulation, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 2Graduate School, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, People’s Republic of China; 3Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 4School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; 5School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551; 6Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology (MTC), Karolinska Institutet, Biomedicum, Stockholm SE-17177, Sweden; 7Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; 8Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Capital Medical University, Beijing Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Bin LiAcupuncture and Moxibustion Department, Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Capital Medical University, Beijing Key Laboratory of Acupuncture Neuromodulation, Beijing, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86 18910781852Email [email protected]: Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a degenerative disease, making a unique contribution to chronic pain, edema, and limited mobility of knee joint. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a common complementary therapy for KOA and has been found effective. The aim of this review is to consolidate the current knowledge about the mechanism of four interventions of TCM: acupuncture, moxibustion, herbs, and massage in treating KOA, and how they alleviate symptoms such as pain, swelling, and dysfunction. Furthermore, this review highlights that four therapies have different mechanisms but all of them can manage KOA through inhibiting inflammation, which indicates that alternative therapies should be considered as a viable complementary treatment for pain management in clinical practice.Keywords: knee osteoarthritis, acupuncture, moxibustion, herbs, massage

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