To Investigate the Effect of PEMF for Knee OA Patients

Chinese University of Hong Kong60 enrolled

Overview

Health care costs are increasing alarmingly, which will impose an overwhelming economic burden to an aging society like that of Hong Kong. For example, degenerative musculoskeletal disorders such as osteoarthritis (OA) present a grand challenge with its high prevalence (\>40% in the elderly suffered from knee OA). Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis, and around 2 million population worldwide suffer from this disorder. OA is a debilitating progressive disease with typical pathological progress such as cartilage degeneration, inflammation, joint width narrowing and developing osteophytes. The main system of knee OA is acute pain leading to loss of mobility. There is no effective treatment to cure or stop the progression of OA. For now, the main method is to alleviate the pain and symptoms, including control weight, exercise, physical treatment and intake of NSAIDs/ paracetamol. Pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) treatment has shown to enhance cell activity related to tissue healing, delay bone and cartilage degeneration and give beneficial effects such as relief in pain, anti-inflammation and reduce swelling. In clinic, PEMF treatment has been reported to be safe, and has been proved to reduce the usage of NSAIDs and pain in patients with knee OA. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of PEMF therapy on for patients with knee OA.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

TRIPLE

Enrollment

Conditions

Knee Osteoarthritis

Interventions

PEMF treatmentDEVICE

Patient will receive a PEMF treatment. The involved leg will be exposed to PEMF for 30 minutes per session, and the treatment regime will run three times a week for eight weeks, summing up 24 sessions of PEMF exposure in total.

Placebo treatmentDEVICE

Patient will receive a placebo treatment. The involved leg will be exposed to placebo treatment for 30 minutes per session, and the treatment regime will run three times a week for eight weeks, summing up 24 sessions of placebo exposure in total.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 50 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Primary osteoarthritis of knee * VAS score ≥ 4 * Grade 2 and 3 osteoarthritis (Kellgren-Lawrence criteria) * No alleviation of symptoms after ≥ 3 months of nonsurgical treatment * No acute knee injuries in both limbs in the past 3 months * No muscle strain in both limbs in the past 3 months * Voluntarily agreed to participate and signed the informed consent form Exclusion Criteria: * Skin diseases around the target knee joint * Severe pain in other areas affects the diagnosis of function and symptoms of knee joints * Injection in target knee within 3 months of enrolment * Inflammatory joint disease (e.g., rheumatic inflammation) * Infectious joint disease (e.g., septic arthritis) * Pregnant or breastfeeding * Patient with a pacemaker, an implantable defibrillator, neurosurgical clips, a neurostimulator, cochlear implant, a stent, an insulin pump * Physical inability to undertake testing procedures * Inability to give informed consent

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Muscle power

The isometric strength of the knee flexors and extensors was measured by a handheld dynamometer (MicroFET2, Hoggan Scientific, United States)