OBJECTIVE: Numerous clinical studies have shown that acupuncture combined with massage in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis has a good effect, but there is still a lack of evidence. This review aims to evaluate the clinical efficacy of acupuncture combined with massage in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis by meta-analysis. METHOD(S): Systematic retrieval of CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library databases was conducted for articles related to acupuncture combined with massage for treating knee osteoarthritis from inception until May 2020. Two researchers independently searched, screened, extracted data, and included literatures that met the standards. Improved Jadad scale scoring standard was used for literature quality assessment, Cochrane systematic review was adopted, and finally meta-analysis of data was conducted using RevMan 5.3 software. RESULT(S): In the end, 24 literatures involving a total of 2,196 cases were included, including 7 high-quality literatures and 17 low-quality literatures. There were 1 103 cases in the treatment group and 1 093 cases in the control group. Meta-analysis results showed that the overall effective rate (odds ratio (OR) 3.88, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.89 to 5.19, p < 0.000 01), visual analogue scale score (mean difference (MD) -1.69, 95% CI -2.11 to -1.27, p < 0.00001), The Western Ontario and McMaster Universities score (MD -13.89, 95% CI -18.78 to -9.00, p < 0.00001) and Lysholm score (MD 11.66, 95% CI 7.42 to 15.89, p < 0.00001) were significantly better in the treatment group than the control group. CONCLUSION(S): Compared with the treatment of knee osteoarthritis by acupuncture alone, massage alone and western medicine alone, acupuncture combined with massage has a significant effect in reducing knee pain, improving knee function and improving patients' quality of life. Comprehensive consideration can be given to the conservative treatment of knee osteoarthritis clinically. However, due to the small proportion of high-quality literature included and the possible bias, more and higher-quality literatures are needed to be verified.

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