comparative study of acupuncture and local drug therapy for arthralgia of the knee

ABSTRACT

To compare the effeicacy and effects of acupuncture therapy and intra articular local drug injection in relieving chronic pain in arthralgia of the knee joint, 80 patients with chronic arthralgia were studied. Patients were divided into two groups, acupuncture group I contained [n = 40] 9 male and 31 female, group II [n = 40] which divided into two groups, group IIA 20 patients received steroidal drug [depomedrol] intrarticulary and group IIB 20 patients received non-steroidal [Liometacen] drug intraarticulary. All patients were assessed as regards analgesia, haemodynamic changes [B 1. P and pulse rate] and serum cortisol level All patients also were observed for the knee motion degree in flexion and extension Analgesia and articular mobility were found to be satisfactory in group I and group IIA but unsatisfactory in group IIB [liometacen group]. Regarding pulse rate, blood pressure and respiratory rate showed insignificant importance in pain relief in osteoarthritic patients in all groups. Serum cortisol level was estimated in the three groups and showed that its level in micro g dl was decreased after pain relief in group I, IIA and insignificantly decreased in group IIB. We concluded that acupuncture therapy is an effective method in relieving of pain caused by knee arthralgia as well as in improving the activity of the joint. Intraarticular injection of corticosteroids had a considerable value in pain relief and in knee motion, while liometacen had insignificant effect on both