ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE@#To evaluate the clinical effect of acupuncture at tendon blockage point of quadriceps femoris muscle belly for mild to moderate patella femoral arthritis.@*METHODS@#A total of 76 patients with mild to moderate patella femoral arthritis were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group, 38 cases in each group. The patients in the observation group were treated with acupuncture at tendon blockage point of quadriceps femoris muscle belly, and the needles were stayed for 20 min each time for twice a week; while the patients in the control group were treated with sodium hyaluronate injection into articular cavity, once a week, and both groups were treated for 4 weeks. The pain symptoms and joint function of the patients were evaluated with pain visual analogue scale (VAS) score, tenderness value of the most obvious pain point in front of the knee, and Lysholm knee function score before and one week after treatment, and the clinical effect was observed.@*RESULTS@#After treatment, VAS scores, tenderness value of the most obvious pain point in front of the knee and Lysholm knee function scores of the two groups were improved compared with before treatment (<0.05); the improvement of VAS score and tenderness value of the most obvious pain point in front of the knee in the observation group was more obvious than that in the control group (<0.05). The total effective rate in the observation group was 94.7% (36/38), which was higher than 81.6% (31/38) in the control group (<0.05).@*CONCLUSION@#Acupuncture at tendon blockage point of quadriceps femoris muscle belly can relieve pain and improve the function of patella femoral joint for patients with patella femoral arthritis, and the clinical effect is better than that of sodium hyaluronate injected into articular cavity.