Objective To observe the clinical effect of acupoint heat-sensitive moxibustion for acute knee arthralgia and to analyze its effect on serum osteopontin(OPN)and matrix metalloproteinase-3(MMP-3)contents in patients with knee osteoarthritis so as to study its mechanism underlying improving arthralgia.Methods One hundred and forty-four patients with acute knee osteoarthritis were randomly allocated to acupoint heat-sensitive moxibustion(moxibustion)

electroacupuncture(EA)and medication groups.Patients of the moxibustion group were treated by suspended moxibustion over bilateral Weizhong(BL 40)for 40min each point

once daily for 15days.Patients of the EA group were treated by EA stimulation of Neixiyan(EX-LE 4)

Dubi(ST 35)

Xuehai(SP 10)and Liangqiu(ST 34)for 30min

once daily for 15days;and those of the medication group treated by oral administration of Sanqi Tongshu capsules(Panax Notoginseng

etc.used for promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis)

3times daily for 15days.Serum OPN and MMP-3levels were detected with ELISA.Results Following the treatment

of the 50

50and 44cases in the moxibustion

EA and medication groups

24

20and 14were excellent

18

16and 13were good in the therapeutic effect

7

4and 3were effective

and 1

10and 14invalid

with the excellent and good rates being 84%

72.0% and 61.4%

respectively.Serum OPN content of the moxibistion and EA groups

and serum MMP-3content of the moxibustion group were reduced considerably in comparison with pre-treatment in the same one group(P<0.01)

while serum OPN level of the medication group and MMP-3of the EA group were decreased slightly.The effect of moxibustion was evidently superior to that of medication in lowering serum OPN level(P<0.05)and superior to that of both EA and medication in lowering serum MMP-3content(P<0.05).Conclusion Acupoint heat-sensitive moxibustion has a good therapeutic effect in relieving acute knee arthralgia

which may be related to its effects in decreasing serum OPN and MMP-3levels.