Comparıson of the effectıveness of laser and ultrasound treatments ın patıents wıth knee osteoarthrıtıs and pes anserıne bursıtıs

Osteoarthritis which affects mostly knee joint is a chronic degenerative disease characterized by joint cartilage loss, periarticular bone remodelling. The inflammation of the bursa under the common tendon of sartorius, gracilis, semitendinosus muscles at the proximal medial side of tibia is called as pes anserine bursitis, often associated with osteoarthritis. In this study, it is aimed to compare the effectiveness of laser and ultrasound treatments in patients with knee osteoarthritis and pes anserine bursitis.The 40 patients who are taken to the study randomly divided into 2 groups. TENS, exercise, laser treatments were performed to the first group, TENS, exercise, ultrasound treatments were performed to the second group for 10 sessions.Patients were evaluated by using 3 meters, 15 meters get up and go test, 100 meters walking time, knee ROM measurement, WOMAC index, Lequesne knee osteoarthritis index before treatment and at the end of the treatment. VAS used to assess patients? pain status, sleeping status, patient global self-assesment and physician global assesment of patient.Statistically significant changes were observed in 3 meters, 15 meters get up and go test, 100 meters walking time, WOMAC index, Lequesne index, knee flexion measurements in both groups after treatment. While there were no significant improvements at patients? pain, sleep, patient global self-assessment and physician global assesment of patient parameters in ultrasound group after treatment, laser group showed improvement in pain and sleep status after treatment. When all parameters were compared between groups before and after treatment, there were no statistically significant difference between groups after treatment.As a result, in our study we found that both of the 2 treatments provided significant improvements after therapy although the laser treatment was more effective, but there was no statistically superiority to each other. As far as we investigated we think that this is the first study comparing laser and ultrasound treatments in patients with knee osteoarthritis and pes anserine bursitis. According to preferences of the clinician and patient?s status, we believe that these treatment modalities can be used alone or in combination.Key Words: Osteoarthritis, knee osteoarthritis, pes anserine bursitis, laser, ultrasound.