King Faisal Specialist Hospital& Reseach Center, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Clinical experience using Hilterapia® in "knee arthrosis".
Knee osteoarthritis (OA ) is a common musculoskeletal disorder in Saudi population. Functional disability “like walking and squatting”, and pain are the most common complaints by OA patients.
The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of Hilterapia® against LL and US in combination with exercises in relieving knee pain, walking distance without pain and squat in patients with knee early osteoarthritis.
Thirty subjects with knee early OA , males and females, age between 40 and 72 years, were enrolled. The inclusion criterium was knee/s pain no more than two years, with clinical and radiological confirmation of the diagnosis of OA.
Participants were randomly and equally classified into three groups. All participants received exercise program for knee in combination with one of the therapeutic modalities compared (Hilterapia®, LL, US). Participants at group (1) received Hilterapia®, in group (2) received LL and in group (3) received US therapy. All participants received six treatments for three weeks (two treatments/week).
Equipments used were HIRO® 3.0 (ASA S.r.l., Vicenza, Italy), Low level laser (ASA S.r.l., Vicenza, Italy) Ultrasound Unit (Zimmer Medizin System). Evaluation parameters were: perceptive pain using VA S, walking distance without pain (in meters), and squat with/without pain. Measurements were taken pre-treatment and after completion of the six sessions.
The results obtained show that: Hilterapia® was more effective than LL and therapeutic US in inhibition of pain, increasing walking distance without pain and improvement of ability to squat than LL in people with early OA. LL and US had some efficacy, but no differences between LL and therapeutic US have been observed in inhibition of pain, in increase of the walking distance without pain and improvement of the ability to squat in people with early OA.
Therefore, Hilterapia® in combination with exercises can be considered as an effective plan for relieving pain, and improving functions in patients with knee osteoarthrosis.
