Efficacy Study of Shortwave Diathermy for the Treatment of Patients With Knee Osteoarthritis

The purpose of this study is to determine whether shortwave diathermy is effective in reducing knee pain and increasing function of the patients with knee osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common degenerative joint disease, resulting in significant morbidity and health care expense. It affects more than 60% of Western World adults over the age of 65 years. It causes pain and dysfunction in 20% of elderly persons. It can affect any joint containing hyaline cartilage; knee is the most commonly affected joint. There are many strategies for the treatment of knee OA but a curative method has not been found. Treatment is therefore aimed to relief symptoms and to prevent further functional deterioration. It is unclear whether any of the treatment modalities is efficacious. Shortwave diathermy (SWD) is one of deep heat widely applied to alleviate the symptoms associated with OA. The efficacy of SWD for the treatment of OA knee is still inconclusive. The outcome of treatment in previous reports varies from null to positive effect. This discrepancy is largely due to the different research methodology, the inadequate sample size, the methods used in outcome assessment, and the treatment protocols. Comparison(s): Peri- or postmenopausal women with OA knee are randomized into two groups, receiving a course of either therapeutic SWD or sham SWD. The main outcome measured is the change in Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis (WOMAC) Index.

The treatment group received short-wave diathermy (SWD) plus exercise whereas the control group received exercise alone.

The WOMAC index is a multidimensional, self-administered health status evaluation instrument for patients with OA of the hip and knee. It is composed of 24 items that are grouped into three dimensions, including pain (5 items), stiffness (2 items), and function (17 items). The response can be in a form of visual analog or five-point Likert scale [11, 23]. In this study, the response is on a 10-cm horizontal line with numeric description from 0 to 10. The score of each dimension is an average of the component item scores. The WOMAC total score is determined by averaging the scores of all dimensions. The total score ranges from 0 (best outcome possible) to 10 (worst outcome possible).

Inclusion Criteria: peri- or postmenopausal women aged >50 years primary knee osteoarthritis Exclusion Criteria: inability to walk severe joint instability history of previous shortwave diathermy intra-articular injection within 3 months metallic implant around knee joint suspicious of malignancy around knee joint significant cardiovascular disease inability to understand how to score the symptoms

The present study start date was before January 18, 2017; therefore we did not plan to share IPD. However, the IPD is available upon request to the correspondent.

Rattanachaiyanont M, Kuptniratsaikul V. No additional benefit of shortwave diathermy over exercise program for knee osteoarthritis in peri-/post-menopausal women: an equivalence trial. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2008 Jul;16(7):823-8. doi: 10.1016/j.joca.2007.10.013. Epub 2008 Feb 21.