Yb. Kwon et al., The analgesic efficacy of bee venom acupuncture for knee osteoarthritis: Acomparative study with needle acupuncture, AM J CHIN M, 29(2), 2001, pp. 187-199
The aim of this investigation was to determine whether bee venom (BV) admin
istered directly into an acupoint was a clinically effective and safe metho
d for relieving the pain of patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA) as compa
red to traditional needle acupuncture. We evaluated the efficacy of BV acup
uncture using both pain relief scores and computerized infrared thermograph
y (IRT) following 4 weeks of BV acupuncture treatment. We observed that a s
ignificantly higher proportion of subjects receiving BV acupuncture reporte
d substantial pain relief as compared with those receiving traditional need
le acupuncture therapy. Furthermore, the IRT score was significantly improv
ed and paralleled the level of pain relief.