Acupotomy therapy demonstrates the definite clinical efficacy on knee osteoarthritis (KOA). After reviewing systematically the mechanism studies on acupotomy for KOA over the past 5 years

It is revealed that acupotomy synergistically intervenes in the pathological progression of KOA through multi-target approaches

such as regulating cartilage homeostasis

restoring skeletal muscle function

alleviating synovial inflammatory responses

remodeling subchondral bone

and neuromodulation. But the current research still limits to single-tissue phenotypic observation

and is insufficiency in the in-depth exploration of multi-tissue synergistic interactions and molecular upstream-downstream regulatory mechanisms. Future studies should focus on the inheritance and innovation of acupotomy theory

and integrating multi-omics analytical technologies

artificial intelligence

and novel biochemical detection methods. The mechanism research targets on the interaction mechanisms among tissues

direct effects of acupotomy

immune-inflammatory regulatory mechanisms

and analgesic mechanisms

so as to comprehensively elucidate the therapeutic mechanism of acupotomy for KOA.