Research Trends and Hotspots of Traditional Chinese Medicine for Knee Osteoarthritis from 2005 to 2025: A Bibliometric Analysis.

Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a prevalent degenerative joint disease that causes significant pain, functional impairment, and reduced quality of life, particularly among the aging population worldwide. While Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been widely used in clinical practice for KOA management, there has been a lack of systematic, data-driven synthesis to map the global research trends, key contributors, and core themes in this area. This study conducts a comprehensive bibliometric analysis to map the research landscape, identify trends, and forecast future directions in the application of TCM for KOA. Articles published between 2005 and 2025 were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection. A total of 339 relevant publications were analyzed using VOSviewer, CiteSpace, and the Bibliometric R package to assess contributions and trends related to countries, institutions, journals, authors, references, and keywords. Our study elucidates the global research landscape of TCM for KOA. Findings indicate a rapidly growing trend in publications, with China as the predominant contributor, although international collaboration remains limited. Leading contributors include authors Wang Peimin and Liu Jun, the Journal of Ethnopharmacology (publication volume), and Osteoarthritis & Cartilage .(citation impact). Research focuses on herbs such as ginger and peony, as well as on formulas such as Duhuo Jisheng Decoction. Emerging methodologies such as network pharmacology and molecular docking are clarifying the mechanisms of TCM, with future trends pointing to inflammation, oxidative stress, and apoptosis. This study provides valuable insights to guide future research and advance the modernization of TCM for KOA.