Distal Acupoints Outperform Proximal Acupoints in Treating Knee Osteoarthritis: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objectives: To determine the difference in efficacy between distal and proximal acupoints in treating knee osteoarthritis.

Design: Ninety-two eligible participants were randomly assigned into three groups: distal acupoint treatment group (DG), proximal acupoint treatment group (PG), and sham acupuncture control group (SG). Primary and secondary outcomes were compared before and after the intervention. . A single acupuncture treatment was applied at (LI11), (HT3), and (TE10) in DG participants; (GB34), (SP9), and (EX-LE2) in PG participants; and (CV12) and (ST21) in SG participants. . The visual analog scale (VAS) and active and passive knee range of motion (ROM) were used primarily to evaluate the treatment efficacy. The radial pulse diagnosis was used as a secondary outcome measure to determine the changes in the spectral energy of the radial pulses.

Results: The three groups had significant pain reduction after acupuncture ( < 0.05). DG had the greatest difference in pre- and post-VAS scores. Compared with the control group, significant improvement was observed in DG active and passive ROM and in PG passive ROM ( < 0.05). The high-frequency spectral energy of the left pulse in PG was significantly decreased, while the low-frequency spectral energy of the left pulse in PG and the left pulse in DG were significantly increased after acupuncture.

Conclusions: Distal acupoints provide better pain relief and improve ROM than proximal acupoints in treating knee osteoarthritis. Significant changes in spectral energy were observed in the left , , and pulses, indicating pain relief and blood flow improvement after acupuncture.