Pengfei Liu,1,* Yuan Cui,1 Peisong Qin,1,* Jianye Lv,2 Lingfei An,3 Xiongfei Zhang,3 Ha Si,3 Yelin Wang,3 Leigang Zheng,1,3 Zhifeng Zhang4 

1College of Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinical Medicine, Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of articular surgery, Cangzhou Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Cangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Inner Mongolia Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hohhot, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of articular surgery, Second Affiliated Hospital of Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot, People’s Republic of China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Leigang Zheng, Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Inner Mongolia Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 11 Jiankang Road, Hohhot, Inner, Mongolia, 010020, People’s Republic of China, Email zhengleigang2000@163.com

Purpose: The oblique round-edged needle therapy based on the traditional Chinese medicine theory of “muscle bone balance” is beneficial for KOA. This study observed the behavior of KOA model rats, the structure of rectus femoris muscle and cartilage, and demonstrated that oblique round-edged needle therapy protects the knee joint and alleviates the progression of KOA by relaxing the tendons and muscles around the knee joint.
Animals and Methods: The model used is papain induced KOA in the left hind limb of rats. The rats were divided into a normal group, a model group, an electroacupuncture group, and an oblique round-edged needle group, and each group received 3 weeks of treatment. We evaluated the LequesneMG score and range of motion of the knee joint. Slices of rectus femoris muscle and articular cartilage were stained with hematoxylin-eosin.
Results: Compared with the model group and the electroacupuncture group, the LequesneMG behavioral score and passive range of motion of the knee joint were higher in the oblique round-edged needle group, while the Mankin score of the cartilage was lower.
Conclusion: The oblique round-edged needle improved the LequesneMG score and joint mobility of KOA rats, reducing damage to cartilage structure and delaying the progression of KOA by minimizing rectus femoris muscle injury.

Keywords: articular cartilage, oblique round-edged needle, knee osteoarthritis, rectus femoris