Comparative Study of the Effectiveness of Therapeutic Ultrasound vs Interferential Therapy to reduce Pain and improve Functional Ability in Osteoarthritis of Knee

Abstract

Many people develop functional limitation due to pain of osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. Different physiotherapeutic modalities are commonly used to give treatment for patients with OA knee. This study aims to examine the efficacy of therapeutic ultrasound (UST) vs interferential therapy (IFT) to reduce pain and to improve functional ability in OA knee. Thirty subjects with a mean age of 62.55 ± 6.25 years having clinical diagnosis of OA of knee were randomly allocated to two study groups, namely groups I and II, each of 15 patients. Group I received UST and therapeutic exercise and group II received IFT and same therapeutic exercise designed for OA knee, conducted five times a week for 2 weeks. The outcome of this intervention was measured in terms of Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) score, pain relief in terms of visual analog scale (VAS), and active range of motion (ROM). It was concluded that IFT could be the better choice of modality than UST in the management of OA of knee. Clinical significance: This study helped us to formulate a better therapeutic approach of OA of knee.

To See Changes Following Physiotherapy in Pain, Range of Motion, Muscle Strength And Functional Performance in Patients with Osteoarthritis of Knee

“…These data suggested that there was increase in knee range of motion and improvement in functional component of WOMAC scale by 3 rd day as shown in Table 6. In a study done by Pallab Das, Manas Das 24 in 2017 to compare the effectiveness of therapeutic Ultrasound and Interferential Thearpy in which all the subjects with knee pain and clinically diagnosed as OA knee were screened as per the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The patients received therapeutic exercises which included Isometric Quadriceps exercises, Straight Leg raises, Hamstrings stretching, AROM exercises for knee.…”

“…Non-weight-bearing muscle-strengthening exercises have been shown to be successful in regaining range of motion (ROM), reducing discomfort, and enhancing daily activity performance. 10 Moreover, IFT demonstrates improvement in terms of ROM, WOMAC score, and pain. Hence, lowering knee pain helps people with OA knees function more physically.…”