Evaluation of Clinical Efficacy and Quality of Life in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis Treated with Duhuo Jisheng Tang Combined with Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy
Objective:To observe the clinical efficacy of Duhuo Jisheng Tang combined with extracorporeal shockwave therapy(ESWT)in patients with early to mid-stage knee osteoarthritis(KOA)of cold-dampness arthralgia type.Methods:A total of 91 pa-tients with KOA were randomly divided into two groups:an observation group with 45 patients and a control group with 46 patients.The control group was treated with oral celecoxib capsules,while the observation group was treated with oral Duhuo Jisheng Tang combined with ESWT for 4 weeks.The visual analog scale(VAS)for knee pain,Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index(WOMAC)score,and Short Form-36(SF-36)quality of life score were evaluated before and after treatment in both groups;Changes in serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNF-α)and interleukin-1 β(IL-1β)were observed before and after treatment;The to-tal effective rate after treatment and the recurrence rates at 12 weeks and 24 weeks after treatment were compared between the two groups.Results:The improvements in VAS,WOMAC,SF-36 scores,and serum TNF-α and IL-1 β levels in the observation group were significantly better than those in the control group(P<0.05);The total effective rate after treatment and the recurrence rates at 12 weeks and 24 weeks in the observation group were lower than those in the control group(P<0.05).Conclusion:The combination of Duhuo Jisheng Tang and ESWT can improve the clinical symptoms of patients with early to mid-stage KOA of cold-dampness arthralgia type,promote the recovery of normal knee joint function,enhance the quality of life of patients,and reduce the recurrence rate,which may be related to the reduction of serum inflammatory markers such as TNF-α and IL-1β.