Vertical whole body vibration for treatment of knee osteoarthritis: a pilote monocentric prospective, randomized...

Osteoarthritis of the knee (KOA) is a leading cause of disability in the aging population. The treatment of choice in most stages is a conservative multimodal approach. Previous studies were able to prove the efficiency of physical therapy for improvement. Therefore physical therapy, besides pain medication, is one of the most common used forms of therapy for KOA. This study aims to evaluate the possible efficiency of whole-body vibration (WBV) compared to physical therapy. This might benefit patients to whom physical therapy is not accessible.

Patients with primary Gonarthrosis grade II or III were recruited. Included patients were randomly allocated to two groups. One group was treated by physical therapy and the other one with WBV. Treatment duration was six weeks. An Intention-to-Treat analysis was performed. Effectiveness was evaluated by Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), Outcome Measures in Rheumatology Committee (OMERACT) and Short-Form-Health-Survey 12 (SF-12) at seven, twelve and 26 weeks.

Of 51 patients recruited, 39 patients were finally included. Overall, both treatments were able to show improvements. The SF-12 Score was improved in both groups without significant difference (p = 0.487). The conventional group showed insignificant vaster pain reduction (p = 0.926). Whereas WBV resulted in insignificant improved function (p = 0.144), reduced stiffness (p = 0.931) and improved total score (p = 0.295). Response to therapy reduced over time in both groups. Although more patients of the WBV group reported improvement of their general health status, average improvement was better at the conventional group.

This study was able to show that, for the conservative treatment of knee osteoarthritis grade II and III, WBV is a non-inferior therapy compared to conventional physiotherapy. Both were able to improve the status of the patients and may be used based on the accessibility and preferences of affected patients.