Efficacy of ultrasound in the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effect of ultrasound in the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee.


METHODS
Eighty-seven out- and in-patients with osteoarthritis of the knee (15 men and 72 women) underwent ultrasonic therapy from February to October 2010. The patients were randomly assigned to an ultrasound group (Group A) and a placebo group (Group B). Group A was offered ultrasonic therapy while Group B underwent mock treatment. The visual analogue scale (VAS) and Lequesne scores of the two groups before and after treatment were compared. The data were analyzed by normal distribution, Student's t-test and the rank sum test. The means during and after treatment of the VAS and Lequesne efficacy index of the treatment group were calculated and plotted on a bar graph.


RESULTS
Single sample analysis of Groups A and B showed VAS efficacy index: mean = 0.3640, P= 0.000; Lequesne efficacy index, median = 0.3080, P= 0.000, and mean = 0.1000, P= 0.000; Lequesne efficacy index, mean = 0.0364, P= 0.024, respectively. Independent samples t test and rank sum test showed significant differences between the two groups, namely P= 0.000 for both the VAS and Lequesne curative effect indexes. The means of the VAS efficacy index of the treatment group increased during and after treatment. The means of the Lequesne efficacy index of the treatment group showed no apparent decrease by 28 days after treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
Ultrasound treatment significantly alleviates joint symptoms, relieving joint swelling, increasing joint mobility and reducing inflammation, in osteoarthritis patients.
Department of Orthopaedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University             National Engineering Research Center of Ultrasound Medicine             People's Hospital of Shapingba District, Chongqing, China.
Peng-fei
PF
Yang
Dong
D
Li
Shi-mo
SM
Zhang
Qing
Q
Wu
Jin
J
Tang
Liang-ku
LK
Huang
Wei
W
Liu
Xi-dong
XD
Xu
Shi-rong
SR
Chen
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020370:Osteoarthritis, Knee / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014464:Ultrasonic Therapy / Q000379:methods*