Original articleComparison of the Efficacy of Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation, Interferential Currents, and Shortwave Diathermy in Knee Osteoarthritis: A Double-Blind, Randomized, Controlled, Multicenter Study
Section snippets
Participants and Study Design
This was a double-blind, multicenter, randomized controlled study. Eligible outpatients were aged between 50 and 80 years with knee OA according to American College of Rheumatology criteria, radiologically confirmed with a Kellgren-Lawrence grade of 2 or 3,28 and symptomatic with at least 40mm or 4cm severity of pain on the visual analog scale (VAS) for at least 6 months. Patients were excluded if they had any experience with electrotherapy, had history of any contraindication for
Results
Figure 1 summarizes the patient recruitment, participation, and attrition during the study. No complications occurred as a result of the treatments given. None of the patients who completed the study reported any complaints leading to noncompliance for the home-based exercise program at each visit. None of the patients received other therapy, except the intake of paracetamol, during follow-up. There were no significant differences among the groups at baseline (table 1).
Discussion
This randomized, controlled, multicenter study comparing the effectiveness of TENS, IFCs, and SWD against each other and the sham groups in addition to exercise training and education in knee OA showed that all assessment parameters significantly improved in all groups without a significant difference. However, because paracetamol intake was significantly higher in patients treated with the 3 sham interventions in addition to exercise and education, it can be suggested that the use of physical
Conclusions
Although all groups showed significant improvements, paracetamol intake was significantly lower in the patients who were treated with physical therapy agents. This result supports the hypothesis that a combination treatment of a physical therapy agent, exercise, and an education program as a multidisciplinary intervention has the best outcome in patients with knee OA. On the other hand, we could not find that different physical therapy agents, including TENS, IFCs, and SWD, influenced the
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Cited by (0)
Supported by Ege, Dokuz Eylul, and Adnan Menderes Universities, and Sisli Etfal Education and Research Hospital.
No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit on the authors or on any organization with which the authors are associated.
In-press corrected proof published online on Mar 30, 2012, at www.archives-pmr.org.