Trial reportJournal of pain research2025
Effectiveness of Acupotomy Combined with Topical Diclofenac for Knee Osteoarthritis: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Trial report in Journal of pain research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Purpose: We sought to determine whether acupotomy, when combined with topical diclofenac diethylamine emulgel, could (a) reduce pain, and (b) improve functional outcomes in patients with knee osteoarthritis, compared with topical diclofenac alone. Methods: This assessor-blinded, single-center randomized clinical trial was conducted at Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Capital Medical University. Participants aged 40 to 80 with knee osteoarthritis and a pain score of 4 or higher were randomly assigned, via a computer-generated sequence, to an acupotomy intervention group or a control group. Both groups used diclofenac diethylamine emulgel four times daily for 4 weeks, with acupotomy group receiving four acupotomy sessions. Primary outcome was proportion achieving minimal clinically important pain and function improvements. Analyses followed an intention-to-treat approach, with significance at a two-sided Results: Response rates at 4 weeks were 92.55% (93 of 100) in acupotomy group and 61.54% (61 of 99) in control group. Rate differences were 31.01% (95% CI, 19.70% to 42.33%; Conclusion: Acupotomy combined with topical diclofenac effectively reduces pain and improves function in knee osteoarthritis patients. Acupotomy can be considered an adjunctive therapy. This single-center, assessor-blinded trial was limited by the inability to blind participants and practitioners due to the nature of the intervention.
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