1000 Section - Comparative Effects of Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy and Internal Heat Acupuncture on Cartilage Degeneration in a Rat Model of Knee Osteoarthritis

Tuesday, May 19, 2026

6:00 PM - 7:30 PM PT

Co-Author(s)

YL

Yangxiaoxue Liu, MD

Rehabilitation therapist
The first medical center, Chinese PLA General hospital
Beijing, Beijing, China (People's Republic)
WL

Wenxi Luo, MD

Postgraduate
The first medical center, Chinese PLA General hospital
Haidian, Beijing, Beijing, China (People's Republic)
HL

Hao Liu, MD

Postgraduate
The first medical center, Chinese PLA General hospital
Beijing, Beijing, China (People's Republic)
GZ

Gongzi Zhang, MD

Doctor
The first medical center, Chinese PLA General hospital
Beijing, Beijing, China (People's Republic)
MZ

Ming Zhou, MD

Doctor
The first medical center, Chinese PLA General hospital
Beijing, Beijing, China (People's Republic)

Presenting Author/Autor expositor(s)

LH

Liping Huang, MD

Professor
The first medical center, Chinese PLA General hospital
Beijing, Beijing, China (People's Republic)

Objectives : Knee osteoarthritis is a prevalent and economically burdensome degenerative joint disease, highlighting the need for effective non-surgical therapies. This study aimed to investigate and compare the chondroprotective effects of two emerging physical modalities, extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) and internal heat acupuncture (IHA), in a standardized rat model of collagenase-induced knee osteoarthritis.

Design: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly allocated into four groups: normal control, osteoarthritis model (injury), IHA group, and ESWT group. Osteoarthritis was induced by intra-articular collagenase injection. Beginning one day post-modeling, the IHA group received targeted treatment at myofascial trigger points (42°C, 20 min), while the ESWT group received focused application to the knee joint (0.19 mJ/mm², 3 Hz, 600 shots). All animals were euthanized three weeks post-intervention for histological evaluation. Cartilage integrity and proteoglycan content were assessed using Safranin O-Fast Green staining and a semi-quantitative damage scoring system.

Results: Histological analysis confirmed successful osteoarthritis modeling, with the injury group exhibiting extensive cartilage surface fibrillation, moderate proteoglycan loss, and minor cartilage defects. Both treatment groups showed improved cartilage morphology relative to the injury group, characterized by reduced areas of proteoglycan loss and milder morphological alterations. The semi-quantitative cartilage damage scores were 1.167 ± 0.764 for the injury group, 0.667 ± 0.289 for the IHA group, and 0.333 ± 0.289 for the ESWT group. However, one-way ANOVA revealed no statistically significant difference among these three groups.

Conclusion: Both ESWT and IHA demonstrated a non-significant trend toward attenuating cartilage degradation in experimental osteoarthritis, with ESWT showing a numerically lower damage score. These preliminary findings suggest potential therapeutic benefits, but further studies are warranted to conclusively determine their efficacy.