Combination of oxygen and acupuncture for knee pain

As the saying goes, “The knee ages before the person ages.” The knee is one of the largest and most complex joints in the human body, carrying almost all of the body’s weight and burdened with almost all of the activities of the legs, and as a result, it is one of the most vulnerable joints in the body. As we age, bone and ligament aging and wear and tear increase, knee pain becomes one of the prominent conditions of middle-aged and elderly people. According to incomplete statistics, 50% of people over the age of 50 suffer from knee problems. Nowadays, with the accelerated pace of life and improved living standards, knee disease is no longer limited to the middle-aged and elderly. Obesity and inappropriate exercise have led to a trend towards younger people, with a clear trend towards younger onset. Throughout history, there have been many treatments for knee disorders. Western medicine mostly uses anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving drugs, and severe cases require surgery; Chinese medicine commonly uses acupuncture, moxibustion, tui-na, and external or internal application of Chinese herbs. These measures do solve many patients’ knee pain problems, but some patients have unsatisfactory results and their quality of life and even their “happiness index” are affected. In fact, for knee pain, hyperbaric oxygen combined with acupuncture, also known as saturated oxygen acupuncture therapy, is also a noteworthy combination of Chinese and Western treatment methods. Some patients will have unexpectedly good results. There was a case of an elderly patient with degenerative osteoarthritis of the knee whose knee pain symptoms improved significantly after 4 treatments, and the knee pain symptoms basically disappeared after 10 treatments, and the walking activity improved significantly; there was also a case of a young obese patient with knee ligament injury who had knee pain symptoms significantly reduced after 5 treatments, and the knee pain symptoms basically disappeared after more than 20 treatments, and there has been no recurrence so far. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is to inhale pure oxygen in an environment with a pressure higher than one atmosphere to achieve the purpose of treating diseases. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy can increase the oxygen content of human blood by more than 14 times, which has the effect of constricting blood vessels, reducing edema and promoting the absorption of inflammatory exudates, promoting the repair of damaged ligaments and tissues, and improving the function of diseased joints. In Chinese medicine, knee joint disease belongs to the category of “paralysis”, mainly caused by liver and kidney deficiency, blood stasis and obstruction. Acupuncture can stimulate the body’s inherent ability to resist disease through the information feedback effect of the nervous system, and can reduce inflammation and pain, promote the operation of qi and blood and metabolism, with both internal and external therapeutic effects. The combination of the two can improve the sensitivity of the meridians, and the therapeutic effect is significantly improved.