Magnetotherapy in hand osteoarthritis: a pilot trial

Area of Science:

• Orthopedics
• Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Hand osteoarthritis (HO) is a prevalent degenerative joint disease causing pain, stiffness, and functional limitations.
• Current management strategies for HO often involve pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions with varying degrees of effectiveness.
• There is a need for novel and effective therapeutic modalities to manage HO symptoms and improve patient outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficacy of magnetotherapy as an adjunct treatment for hand osteoarthritis (HO).
• To assess the impact of magnetotherapy on pain, joint stiffness, hand function, and quality of life in HO patients.

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled single-blind follow-up study was conducted with 50 patients diagnosed with HO.
• Patients were assigned to either a magnetotherapy group (G1) or a sham-magnetotherapy group (G2), both receiving standard hand exercises.
• Treatment involved 20 minutes of daily magnetotherapy (25Hz, 450 pulse/s, 5-80G) for 10 days in G1, while G2 received sham treatment.
• Outcome measures included pain, joint stiffness, handgrip/pinchgrip strength, Duruöz and Auscan Hand Osteoarthritis Indexes (DAOI), and the Short Form-36 Health Questionnaire (SF-36).

Main Results:

• The magnetotherapy group (G1) demonstrated statistically significant improvements compared to the sham group (G2) in several key areas.
• Significant improvements were observed in SF-36 scores for Pain, Social Function, Vitality, and General Health (p<0.001, p=0.030, p=0.002, p=0.001 respectively).
• Pain at rest and motion, joint stiffness, and the DAOI also showed significant reductions in the magnetotherapy group (p<0.001 for all).

Conclusions:

• Magnetotherapy, as an electromagnetic intervention, showed a significant advantage in improving pain, function, and quality of life in patients with hand osteoarthritis.
• The findings suggest that magnetotherapy can be a valuable complementary therapy for managing HO.
• Further research may explore long-term effects and optimal parameters for magnetotherapy in HO treatment.