OBJECTIVETo compare the clinical efficacy of treatment based on syndrome differentiation of Chinese medicine and modern conservative therapeutic program on post-traumatic elbow arthritis (PTEA) in order to provide the guidance in clinical practice.

METHODSSeventy-six patients with PTEA requesting the conservative therapy were equally assigned to two groups randomly. The 38 patients in the treated group were administered with Chinese herbal medicines according to their syndrome typing for oral intake and external washing; while the other 38 patients in the control group were treated orally with glucosamine hydrochloride and Celecoxib, combined with intra-articular injection of sodium hyaluronate and peri-articular pain spot blocking with Triamcinolone Acetonaide Acetate injection. All were followed-up for six months with the therapeutic efficacy assessed by Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) and the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) Scale scoring.

RESULTSAll the 76 patients completed the trial. The JOA and HSS scores in the two groups were not significantly different before treatment (P>0.05), but they did show significant difference after treatment in terms of total score, joint pain, range of motion, and daily activity (P<0.05). However, there was no difference between the two groups in the improvement of joint stability and deformity (P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONBoth the Chinese drug therapy according to syndrome differentiation and modern conservative therapy are effective in treating PTEA, but the former shows more superiority, and so it is worthy of clinical spreading.