Abstract
Background. Guilu Erxian Jiao (GEJ) is a widely used Chinese herbal remedy for knee osteoarthritis, but its clinical efficacy is unknown. Methods. We enrolled 42 elderly male patients with knee OA, including 21 patients who received the herbal drug GEJ as the case group and 21 patients who did not receive GEJ as the control group. The effects of 12 weeks of GEJ treatment on muscle strength of lower limbs were measured by a Biodex dynamometer, with disability evaluated on the Lequesne index and articular pain measured on the visual analog scale (VAS) between the two groups on the baseline and after treatment. Results. There were significant increases in the levels of muscle strength of TQ/BW-ext-dominant and TQ/BW-flex-dominant between the two groups after treatment (P < 0.05). There were also significant increases in muscle strength of knee extensor muscles in the GEJ-treated group (n = 21) self-controlled before and after 12 weeks of treatment (all P < 0.01). There were significant decreases in articular pain (P < 0.01) and Lequesne index scores (P < 0.01) in the GEJ-treated group when compared to the non-GEJ-treated group. Conclusions. Our results showed that GEJ is effective and is tolerated well in elderly men with knee OA.
Highlights
Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a common articular disease, affecting the joints and the surrounding muscles and causing falls, disabilities, and dependency in older people [1, 2]
This study evaluated the effects of 12 weeks of Guilu Erxian Jiao (GEJ) treatment on muscle strength of lower limbs, physical function, and articular pain
There were no significant differences in age, body mass index (BMI), activities of daily living (ADL) scores, Lequesne index scores, balance tests, and muscle strength between the GEJ-treated group and the non-GEJ-treated group
Summary
Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a common articular disease, affecting the joints and the surrounding muscles and causing falls, disabilities, and dependency in older people [1, 2]. Pharmacological approaches include analgesics, antiinflammatory agents, intra-articular corticosteroids or hyaluronic acid, glucosamine sulphate, chondroitin sulphate, and some experimental treatments already widely used. These drugs have some adverse effects such as constipation, nausea, and excessive sedation in older people, and their effect on cartilage with OA symptoms remains controversial [8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15]. The effects of 12 weeks of GEJ treatment on muscle strength of lower limbs were measured by a Biodex dynamometer, with disability evaluated on the Lequesne index and articular pain measured on the visual analog scale (VAS) between the two groups on the baseline and after treatment.
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