Yang, Ka-Ram; Song, Ho-Sueb

Objective This study was performed to investigate whether Bee Venom Pharmacopuncture(BVP) could be a more effective modality than Warm Needling(WN) in relieving pain and symptoms of knee osteoarthritis(OA). Design Prospective, randomized and controlled clinical trial. Setting Single center trial in Korea Patients 49 volunteers with knee OA participated in the study. All the participants were screened through an inclusion and exclusion criteria. 33 participants were completed the clinical trial. Intervention The subjects were randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group received BVP(n=18), while the other group received WN(n=15). Sixteen sessions of BVP or WN were given at the pain region of the problematic knee for 8 weeks. Primary outcome measure is the Korean translation of Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index scores(Korean WOMAC, KWOMAC). Secondary outcome measure is the physical health scores based on the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey(SF-36) and Patient Global Assessment(PGA). KWOMAC and SF-36 were measured third (baseline, 4 and 8 weeks). PGA was measured twice(4 and 8 weeks). Results BVP group showed significant decrease compared to WN group in pain, function and total scores of KWOMAC according to the Mann-Whitney U-test. In the PGA, BVP group, compared to WN group, showed a significant increase. Conclusions BVP was more effective in relieving pain of knee OA than WN. These findings suggest that BVP is a promising alternative for treating knee OA.

Bee Venom Pharmacupuncture(BVP); warm needling(WN); osteoarthritis; KWOMAC; SF-36; Patient Global Assessment; Randomized Controlled Trial

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