Diz osteoartritinde ESWT ve lazer tedavisinin klinik parametreler üzerine etkileri

Objective: This study was conducted to compare the effectiveness and reliability of ESWT and HILT treatment modalities on clinical parameters in knee osteoarthritis. Material and Method: A total of sixty patients between the ages from 40 to 75 attending Gaziantep University Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation as outpatients and were diagnosed with primary knee osteoarthritis were included in our study. The patients were randomly divided into two groups. The first group received ESWT treatment (3 times weekly for a total of 6 sessions), and the second group received HILT treatment (5 times weekly for a total of 10 sessions), for two consecutive weeks. Home programme of exercises to strengthen the muscles around the knee was recommended yo all patients. The patients were evaluated at baseline, at the end of treatment period and 6-week after the end of treatment period with Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), WOMAC (Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index) and Lequesne's algofunctional knee index. Results: Demographic characteristics were significantly diffrent between two treatments groups. Both treatments group showed a significant improvement in VAS score (p=0,001), WOMAC pain, stiffness and physical function scores (p=0,001) and Lequesne's index scores (p=0,001) at the end of treatment period and 6-week after the end of treatment period compared top pre-treatment period. There was no significant difference between the groups. Conclsuion: ESWT and HILT are effective in reducing pain and disease severity, and improving physical function in patients with knee osteoarthritis with safe profile. Our results may shed light on our daily clinical practices. However more comprehensive studies are needed.