Open Access<p>Mechanism of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Treating Knee Osteoarthritis</p>
Author(s) -
Mina Wang,
Lu Liu,
Claire Shuiqing Zhang,
Ziqi Liao,
Xiang-Hong Jing,
Marc Fishers,
Luopeng Zhao,
Xiaobai Xu,
Bin Li
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of pain research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 49
ISSN - 1178-7090
DOI - 10.2147/jpr.s247827
Subject(s) - medicine , osteoarthritis , acupuncture , moxibustion , massage , traditional chinese medicine , alternative medicine , physical therapy , mechanism (biology) , disease , intensive care medicine , pathology , philosophy , epistemology
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.