Objective To observe the therapeutic effect of thermal acupuncture needle muscular stimulation for treatment of knee osteoarthritis patients.Methods A total of 120 outpatients with knee osteoarthritis were randomly and equally divided into control and treatment groups.Patients of the treatment group were treated by inserting the acupuncture needles into the attached sites of the quadriceps femoris

musculus vastus medialis

vastus lateralis

etc.around the knee joint.The needles were manipulated repeately till "Deqi"

followed by attaching a piece of ignited moxa-roll(about 2 cm length) to the needle handle.The treatment was conducted once a week

4 weeks altogether.Patients of the control group were treated by oral administration of Celebrex(a specific inhibitor of COX-2

200 mg/time

once daily

4 weeks together).The therapeutic effect was evaluated by using visual analogue scale(VAS)

Lequesne Index(Chinese Version) of osteoarthritis after 4 weeks' treatment and 3 months after the treatment.Results After 4 weeks' treatment and 3 months after the treatment

the effective rates were 78.3%(47/60) and 81.7%(49/60) in the control group

and 96.6%(58/60) and 96.6%(58/60) in the treatment group

respectively

being significantly higher in the treatment group(P<0.05).Both VAS scores and Lequesne Indexes in the treatment group

and VAS scores in the control group were decreased significantly after 4 weeks' treatment and 3 months' follow-up(P<0.05).The effects of the treatment group were considerably superior to those of the control group(P<0.05).Conclusion Thermal needle muscular stimulation therapy is effective for relieving knee osteoarthritis patients' symptoms of pain

knee-joint stiffness

swel-ling

walking capability

etc.