Background  In recent years, there has been an increasing trend of military training injuries. Lower limbs are commonly involved, especially the knee joints. According to the actual needs of training injury prevention and treatment in grassroots army, we have designed myofascial autonomous and mutual manipulation which has been preliminarily applied, and this research aims to further clarify the curative effect of this method on knee pain induced by training.

  Objective  To observe the clinical outcomes of myofascial autonomous and mutual manipulation on knee pain induced by training.

  Methods  From January to March in 2021, 90 soldiers with knee pain were randomly divided into treatment group (n=45) and control group (n=45). The treatment group was treated with myofascial autonomous and mutual manipulation, included superficial fasciolysis, cupping, and roller release, the three treatments were applied successively with 5 min per treatment, once a day. The treatment lasted for two weeks, with two days treatment and 1 day rest as a cycle. The control group was treated with plaster application for two weeks, once a day, with two days treatment and 1 day rest as a cycle. Numerical rating scale (NRS) score and Lysholm score were recorded before treatment, immediately after the first treatment, 1 week after treatment, 2 weeks after treatment and the second week after completion of treatment, and the changes of each score before and after treatment were analyzed.

  Results  The NRS scores of the two groups were all lower than before treatment when compared with immediately after the first treatment, 1 week after treatment, 2 weeks after treatment, and the 2nd week after completion of treatment (all P＜0.05); and it was lower in the autonomous and mutual manipulation group when compared with the plaster group after the first treatment and at 1 week after treatment (all P＜0.05), and there was no significant difference in the NRS scores compared with the plaster group after 2 weeks of treatment and at the second week after completion treatment (all P＞0.05). Compared with pretreatment, the Lysholm scores of the two groups were all significantly higher at the time points of immediately after the first treatment, 1 week after treatment, 2 weeks after treatment, and the second week after completion of treatment (all P＜0.05); the Lysholm scores of the autonomous and mutual manipulation group after the first treatment were higher than those of the plaster group (P＜0.05), while there was no significant difference in Lysholm scores compared with the plaster group at 1 week and 2 weeks after treatment and and the second week after completion of treatment (all P＞0.05).

  Conclusion  This study shows that the myofascial autonomous and mutual manipulation has a definite effect on knee pain caused by training. It can quickly reduce the degree of knee pain and improve the function of the knee joint in the early stage within 1-2 weeks, which is worthy of popularization and application at the grassroots at primary level.