Observation of pain-sensitive points in patients with knee osteoarthritis: A pilot study

• Published in: European journal of integrative medicine 2018-08, Vol.21, p.77-81
• Main Authors: Luo, Ya-Nan, Zhou, Yu-Mei, Zhong, Xu, Zhao, Ling, Zheng, Qian-Hua, Zheng, Hui, Tang, Li, Jia, Peng-Li, Wu, Qiang, Huang, Chen, Li, Ying, Liang, Fan-Rong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acupuncture; Knee osteoarthritis; Pain-sensitive points; Pilot study
• ISSN: 1876-3820; 1876-3839
• DOI: 10.1016/j.eujim.2018.06.006

The sensitive points are important points for acupuncture in traditional Chinese medicine. Previous studies have focused mainly on heat-sensitive points in patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA). The aim of this study was to observe the distribution of pain-sensitive points in knee osteoarthritis (KOA), in order to provide a basis for future investigations. The knee was divided into 12 regions and points palpated in these regions for 36 patients with KOA. A pressure algometer was used to measure the pressure-pain threshold (PPT) of the points, including a-shi points and 13 known acupoints on the knees. Five points with the lowest pain threshold on each knee were regarded as the pain-sensitive points. The pain-sensitive points were mainly located in the vastus medialis, semimembranosus, semitendinosus, sartorius, gracilis, and gastrocnemius of knee. Weizhong (BL40), Ququan (LR8), Yingu (KI10), Xiguan (LR7), and Yinlinquan (SP9) were the top 5 most frequent pain-sensitive acupoints. The pain-sensitive a-shi points in each region showed similar degrees of sensitivity. No significant differences of PPTs were found among 13 pain-sensitive acupoints. The pain-sensitive points of KOA were mainly distributed within the medial regions of knee. Since this was a pilot study with a small sample size, further large studies are needed to confirm these findings.