Interpretation of "Clinical Guidelines for Acupotomy Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis"

Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a chronic degenerative disease characterized by articular cartilage degeneration, secondary osteophyte formation, subchondral osteosclerosis and synovial inflammation. Acupotomy is one of the effective ways to treat KOA in clinic, which can release the stimulation through multiple ways and targets, relieve the stress concentration points, restore the mechanical balance of the knee and improve the function of patients with KOA. The "Clinical Guidelines for Acupotomy Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis" (referred to as "Guidelines") proposed by the Acupotomology Branch of the China Association of Chinese Medicine for the first time fully standardizes the clinical diagnosis and treatment plan of acupotomy, and provides reliable evidence reference for the clinical decision-making and practice of KOA. In order to further promote and apply the Guidelines, this study interprets the guidelines from the aspects of formulating purpose and significance, clinical safety, clinical application scope, recommended diagnosis and treatment plan, standardized treatment of adverse reactions, etc., attempting to improve the application level of acupotomy in the diagnosis and treatment of KOA. This paper focuses on the scope of application and contraindications of acupotomy in the diagnosis and treatment of KOA, standardized requirements for the operation of acupotomy in the treatment of KOA, staged acupotomy diagnosis and treatment plan and selection of standardized treatment points, precautions for acupotomy treatment of KOA, clinical applicability and effectiveness of the Guidelines, shortcomings and development suggestions, etc., so as to promote the application of the guidelines in the clinical treatment of KOA.