The primary purpose of this study was to assess the effect of interferential current stimulation on osteoarthritic knee pain in the black Nigerian population. Thirty patients with a history of not less than three months' knee pain with radiographic confirmation of osteoarthritis took part in the study. Patients were allocated alternately into an interferential current stimulation group and a placebo group. All the patients participated in a baseline exercise therapy programme with dietary advice. They received a total of eight 20-minute treatment sessions in four weeks. The treatment group received interferential current stimulation at a frequency of 100 Hz and pulse length of one-thirtieth of a second for the first 15 minutes of their treatment session. The stimulus was then reduced to 80 Hz for the next five minutes while other parameters remained unchanged. For the placebo group the electrodes of the stimulator were positioned appropriately but the stimulator was not tuned. The analysis of variance demonstrated a significant result (p < 0.01). Post hoc analysis revealed differences between initial and final pain values in the interferential current stimulation group. Similar results were observed in the placebo group, but the pain rating in the interferential current stimulation group was found to be significantly better than that for the placebo group. It was concluded that interferential current stimulation is more effective than a placebo in relieving osteo-arthritic knee pain in black Nigerian patients with symptomatic hypermobility.

Full text (sometimes free) may be available at these link(s):      help

• DOI
• PDF locator
• publisher