Osteoarthritis | moxibustion knee oa

October 2014

http://www.arthritistreatmentcenter.com
Here’s another complementary  medicine that might work for knee osteoarthritis…
Arthritis Knee Pain Eased by Chinese Med
Nancy Walsh writing for MedPage Today reported the traditional Chinese medicine practice of moxibustion was effective in reducing pain and improving function among patients with knee osteoarthritis, a randomized clinical trial found.
After 6 weeks of thrice-weekly sessions of moxibustion, in whichthe herb Artemisia vulgaris is burned in a small device placed near knee acupuncture sites, pain scores decreased from 6.69 to 3.03 among patients receiving the active treatment, compared with a decrease from 6.27 to 4.56 in patients receiving a sham treatment, according to Xueyong Shen, of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and colleagues.
In addition, physical function difficulty scores decreased from 33.4 to 16.43 and from 30.99 to 21.70 in the active treatment and sham groups, respectively (P=0.015), the researchers reported in Arthritis Research and Therapy. 
Moxibustion is a modality that has been used by acupuncturists for thousands of years and has been considered effective for relief of arthritic pain. But previous studies of this treatment have been of poor quality, so Shen and colleagues undertook a trial intended to be rigorously blinded and controlled, using the standard outcome measure of the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities' Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC).
They enrolled 110 patients who had radiologically confirmed osteoarthritis.
Only patients who had never before received moxibustion were included, so they would have no expectations about sensations experienced during the procedure, and they were told that the device used had been recently developed and they might or might not feel any heat during the procedure.
Patients' mean age was 65, and two-thirds were women. In the majority of cases, both knees were affected. They were allowed to continue on their baseline pain medications throughout.
Just how moxibustion might influence the arthritic joint remains unclear, but may involve factors including heat, odor, and smoke.
"Moxibustion might play a role similar to that of acupuncture stimulation, although its effect on the sensory nerve would be more superficial," Shen and colleagues wrote.
Comment: It’s certainly worth a try.  Seems safe.

http://youtu.be/PgV7omIkZhE