Regulating spleen and stomach can improve bone and joint function of knee osteoarthritis patients complicated with osteoporosis

OBJECTIVEThis study was designed to determine the influences of spleen and stomach conditioning treatment in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) on patients with both knee osteoarthritis (KOA) and osteoporosis (OP). METHODSThe medical records of 108 patients with both KOA and OP treated in Wuhan No. 1 Hospital between February 2020 and December 2021 were retrospectively studied. Among them, 58 patients treated with western medicine alone were assigned to a control group, and 50 patients who received spleen and stomach conditioning treatment in TCM based on western medicine treatment were assigned to an observation group. The efficacy on the two groups was compared. The joint function, pain, inflammatory factors and bone turnover markers in the two groups before and after treatment were analyzed, as well as the incidence of adverse reactions after treatment. The prognosis of the patients at 12 months after treatment was counted, and the influencing factors of poor prognosis were analyzed by multivariate analysis. RESULTSThe observation group showed a notably higher total effective rate than the control group (P