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©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Traditional Chinese medicine ointment combined with tuina therapy in treatment of pain and swelling after total knee arthroplasty
Liang Xing, Hui-Rong Xu, Qing-Lin Wang, Hua Kong, Hua Zhang, Jing Tian, Ying Ding, Ru-Xin Yang, Lei Zhang, Bo Jiang
Liang Xing, Hua Kong, Hua Zhang, Ru-Xin Yang, Lei Zhang, Bo Jiang, Department of Arthroscopy and Sports Medicine, Wangjing Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100102, China
Hui-Rong Xu, Department of Nursing, Wangjing Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100102, China
Qing-Lin Wang, Department of Vascular Surgery, Wangjing Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100102, China
Jing Tian, Department of Orthopedics, Wangjing Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100102, China
Ying Ding, Department of Spine, Wangjing Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100102, China
Author contributions: Jiang B contributed to the conceptualization and data curation; Xu HR, Wang QL, Kong H, Zhang H, Tian J, Ding Y, Yang RX and Zhang L contributed to project administration; Xing L contributed to writing, including review and editing, and project administration; and all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by the Research Project of Wangjing Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, No. WJYY2020-11.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Wangjing Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences.
Clinical trial registration statement: The authors declare that this study is original, but not register yet.
Informed consent statement: All patients signed an informed consent form.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
CONSORT 2010 statement: The authors have read the CONSORT 2010 Statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CONSORT 2010 Statement.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See:
https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Corresponding author: Bo Jiang, MD, Attending Doctor, Department of Arthroscopy and Sports Medicine, Wangjing Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, No. 6 Zhonghuan South Road, Wangjing, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100102, China.
arthrostudent@gmail.com
Received: July 12, 2022
Peer-review started: July 12, 2022
First decision: August 21, 2022
Revised: September 5, 2022
Accepted: September 21, 2022
Article in press: September 21, 2022
Published online: October 18, 2022
Processing time: 96 Days and 20.8 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is the preferred treatment for patients suffering from severe osteoarthritis. The pain and swelling of the knee after the operation may impact rehabilitation and patient quality of life. Routine care to treat these complications includes icing, ankle pump exercises and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory analgesics. However, there are drawbacks to these treatments.
Research motivation
The use of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) ointments can warm meridians, regulate qi and blood, and improve viscera function. It can effectively relieve pain, significantly recover function, and significantly improve the quality of life. Tuina therapy has been shown to enhance the penetration of ointments and has a good long-term effect on patients.
Research objectives
This study aimed to identify a benefit to adding a TCM ointment and tuina therapy to routine care for TKA.
Research methods
The randomized controlled clinical trial enrolled 80 patients who underwent TKA and were divided into two equal groups. All patients received routine care, with the treatment group also receiving TCM ointment with tuina therapy. The following variables were recorded 3 d before surgery and 3 d, 7 d and 14 d after surgery: Visual analog scale score; skin temperature; and circumferences at 15 cm above and below the patella. The maximum active knee flexion angle and the knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome score were recorded before surgery and 14 d after surgery.
Research results
All measured variables were significantly improved in the treatment group compared to the control group, who only received routine care during the postoperative period.
Research conclusions
Treatment with a TCM ointment and tuina therapy for knee arthroplasty patients effectively promoted the local lesion site metabolism and blood circulation, and had a significant inhibitory effect on the local inflammatory response and oxidative stress response.
Research perspectives
Additional studies with a longer follow-up time and larger sample size will confirm the benefits of adding this integrative treatment to the postoperative care of TKA as well as determine the mechanism of action in reducing the inflammatory response.
