Objective To study the clinical effect of Yaotongning capsule combined with etoricoxib for the pain and inflammation of lumbar vertebrae in elderly patients with lumbar osteoarthritis. Methods 120 elderly patients with lumbar osteoarthritis admitted to our hospital from January 2016 to June 2018 were randomly divided into the control group and the observation group, with 60 patients in each group. Patients in the control group were treated with etoricoxib, while patients in the observation group were treated with etoricoxib plus Yaotongning capsule orally. Both groups received medications for 2 weeks. Spinal pain and quality of life score changes were recorded. The inflammatory cytokines in serum TNF-α, GM-CSF, COX-2 and BMP-2 levels were monitored. The clinical efficacy was compared and drug safety profile was evaluated for two groups. Results The effective rates of the control group and the observation group were 78.33% and 91.67% respectively. The effective rate in the observation group weas significantly higher (P<0.05). After treatment, the VAS score for the patients in the observation group was significantly lower than that in the control group (P<0.05). The SF-36 score in the observation group was significantly increased (P<0.05), and the levels of TNF-α,GM-CSF and COX-2 in the serum were significantly lower than those in the control group (P<0.05), and the levels of BMP-2 were significantly increased (P<0.05). Conclusion Yaotongning capsule combined with etoricoxib in the treatment of senile lumbar osteoarthritis has definite curative effect. It significantly reduced lumbar pain, improved quality of life, inhibited inflammatory reaction, and had a better drug safety profile. The further clinical investigation for the combination therapy is warranted.