Patient case (clinical description): A 66-year-old woman comes to the office due to joint pain in the hands and periodic morning stiffness that lasts less than 15 minutes.  The pain is moderately severe and worsens with daily activity. The patient used Tylenol with minimal relief.  Past medical history is notable for hypertension and hypercholesteremia.  Physical examination shows firm nodules over the distal interphalangeal joints, bilaterally. The patient has pain in her knees as well. The knees are stiff in the morning for less than 30 minutes and become worse with climbing stairs. She has some sensation of bone friction during activity. X-ray shows narrowing of the joint space, subchondral bone sclerosis and osteophyte formation along the joints.

Patient's own account: I'm a 66-year-old woman and I went to my doctor's office because of a bloody joint pain in my hands that has been lasting for a while. The pain comes and go in the morning usually. I feel like a stiffness that last less than 15 minutes. The pain is moderately severe but it gets worse when I'm using my hands. I used Tylenol which helped a little. Apart from that, I suffer from hypertension and high cholesterol. The doctor made me notice that I have bumps around both of my hand joints. I also suffer from my knees and they are also stiff in the morning for around 30 min. It's even worse when I climb up the stairs! I also feel like my bones are rubbing against each other when I'm moving. The X-ray showed that I have narrow joint space, I have sclerosis, and abnormal growths of bone along my joints.

Clinical trial: Auriculotherapy for Osteoarthritis Knee

Eligibility criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

        The OA condition will be assessed by physical examination based on the clinical criteria of
        the American College of Rheumatology criteria. The clinical criteria consisted of pain in
        the knee and any three of the following:

          1. aged 50 years of age or over;

          2. <=30 minutes of morning stiffness;

          3. crepitus on active joint motion;

          4. bony tenderness;

          5. bony enlargement; or

          6. no palpable joint warmth.

        This classification has been reported to yield 84% specificity and 89% sensitivity for
        diagnosis of OA knee.

        Exclusion Criteria:

          1. other connective tissue diseases affecting the knee;

          2. knee joint steroid injections within the preceding three months;

          3. having a hearing aid or pacemaker in situ (this is to avoid possible interaction
             between the pacemaker and the magnetic pellets);

          4. receiving AT within the preceding three months;

          5. suffering from aural injuries or infections; and

          6. inability to understand instructions or give consent.

        The assessment is conducted by a research assistant who will receive intensive coaching on
        the physical assessment and therapy administration by the research team. Potential subjects
        will be further assessed by a registered medical practitioner who has over 15 years of
        clinical experience when the assessment on the OA condition by the RA and the research team
        is in doubt.
No condition on gender to be admitted to the trial.
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Subject must be at least 60 Years old.


Eligibility (NLI label): Entailment