Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Research Article

Clinical Study of Acupotomy for Knee Osteoarthritis Based on the Meridian-Sinew Theory: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Table 2

Repeated measures of VAS and WOMAC in different treatment groups ().


Index	Group	Baseline	Week 2	Week 4	Week 8	Week 12	F_time ()	F_group ()	F_time∗group ()

VAS	MS	5.1 ± 1.7	4.1 ± 1.2	3.7 ± 1.1	3.5 ± 1.0	3.3 ± 1.1	22.61 (<0.01)	0.61 (0.43)	1.35 (0.25)
VAS	Anatomy	5.0 ± 1.3	3.9 ± 1.7	3.3 ± 1.6	3.3 ± 1.2	3.3 ± 1.3	22.61 (<0.01)	0.61 (0.43)	1.35 (0.25)

WOMAC	MS	17.8 ± 12.1	10.6 ± 8.9	7.8 ± 7.8	6.6 ± 7.7	5.4 ± 7.3	24.84 (<0.01)	0.40 (0.81)	0.06 (0.81)
WOMAC	Anatomy	18.6 ± 12.6	10.8 ± 11.6	7.1 ± 9.3	5.3 ± 7.0	4.6 ± 6.6	24.84 (<0.01)	0.40 (0.81)	0.06 (0.81)

MS, meridian-sinew; TCM, traditional Chinese medicine; VAS, visual analog scale/score; VAS pain score, 0–10; lower score = better outcome. WOMAC pain score, 0–20. It was assessed with the following five items: pain during walking, stair climbing, resting, weight bearing, and pain at night. Each subscale used the following descriptors: none (0 points), mild (1 point), moderate (2 points), severe (3 points), and extreme (4 points).