The use of various treatments of traditional Chinese medicine can significantly improve the level of the total effective rate and reduce the occurrence of recurrence rate in the later stage of osteoarthritis treatment.
These effects are mediated by a combination of several mechanisms. This method of treatment with TCM can reduce pain, improve their ability to move, and improve their living standards by reducing the level of VAS, WOMAC, SSTCM, SS, and Lequesne and increasing the level of Lysholm. TCM therapy can reduce inflammation and exert anti-inflammatory effects by reducing the levels of IL-1, IL-6, TNF-α, MMP-3, ESR, and CRP and increasing TGF-β. TCM therapy can increase BGP, FGF-2, IGF-1, and OPG and reduce BMP-7 and RANKL levels to improve bone metabolism in order to achieve the balance of bone metabolism. The TCM therapy can also reduce the levels of VEGF and Ang I, reduce cartilage injury, and restore vascular endothelial function. The effect of TCM therapy can also increase the level of SOD and reduce the existence of reactive oxygen species. The net analysis of ACU and index showed that ACU at local acupoints such as Yinlingxue, Xuehai, and Yanglingquan can reduce inflammatory indexes, reduce cartilage damage, balance bone metabolism, reduce WOMAC, and improve TER. The network analysis chart of TCMs and index showed that TCMs can effectively reduce WOMAC through the inhibition of IL-1 and MMP-3 and improve the effect of TER and so on. However, our findings must be handled with care because of the small size and low quality of the clinical trial samples cited. Other rigorous and large-scale RCTs are needed to confirm these results.
