Are Kidney-Tonifying and Blood-Activating Medicinal Herbs Better than NSAIDs for Knee Osteoarthritis? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Table 2

Top 20 Chinese herbs and efficacy based on frequency of usage in the 38 study prescriptions.

English name	Latin name	Chinese Pinyin name	Frequency of usage
Kidney-tonifying herbs
Achyranthes Root	Radix achyranthis bidentatae	Niuxi	24
Prepared Radix Rehmanniae	Radix rehmanniae preparata	Shudihuang	18
Malaytea Scurfpea Fruit	Fructus psoraleae	Buguzhi	14
Eucommia bark	Cortex eucommia	Duzhong	13
Chinese Taxillus Twig	Herba taxilli	Sangjisheng	13
Drynaria Fortunei	Rhizoma drynariae	Gusuibu	13
Epimedium herb	Herba epimedii	Yinyanghuo	10
Common Macrocarpium Fruit	Fructus corni	Shanzhuyu	7
Prepared common Monkshood Daughter Root	Radix Aconiti Lateralis Preparata	Fuzi	7
Blood-activating herbs
Achyranthes Root	Radix achyranthis bidentatae	Niuxi	24
Chinese Angelica	Radix angelicae sinensis	Danggui	20
Suberect Spatholobus Stem	Caulis spatholobi	Jixueteng	14
Danshen Root	Radix salviae miltiorrhizae	Danshen	11
Szechwan Lovage Rhizome	Rhizoma chuanxiong	Chuanxiong	10
Pain relief
Doubleteeth Pubescent Angelica Root	Radix angelicae pubescentis	Duhuo	10
Clematis Root	Radix clematidis	Weilingxian	10
White Peony Root	Radix paeoniae alba	Baishao	9
Common Flowering Quince Fruit	Fructus chaenomelis	Mugua	9
Others
Licorice Root	Radix glycyrrhizae	Gancao	16
Astragalus	Radix astragalus	Huangqi	10
Wolfiporia Extensa	Poria cocos	Fuling	7