Electrotherapy and Osteoarthritis Essay Example for Free

Electrotherapy and Osteoarthritis EssayOsteoarthritis has been described and defined as a condition involving the human bones that is ca apply by the break agglomerate of the gos, leading to the loss of cartilage, or what is cognise as the cushion between the bone and the joint, in the affected joint or joints. Osteoarthritis is know to affect more than twenty million people every year in the United States of the States alone.This degenerative disease affects persons aged above forty five, and it is found in both sexes, and it does non select between races and colors and ethnicities. The hands, the feet, the spine and the large joints of the body fall prey to this debilitating disease, and until today, research has non been able to reveal the specific cause of osteoarthritis, although it is unfeigned that it mass be directly attributed to the impact of ageing.Injuries in a joint, ageing and being overweight can in any case lead to the onset of osteoarthritis. The put o ut in osteoarthritis is caused due to the rubbing of the bones together after the cartilage that cushions them has been worn out. Some of the cocksure therapies to deal with the disease are exercise, stringent weight control, resting of the painful joints, pain comforter medication, electrotherapy, and alternative therapies, and if the pain is excruciating, surgery.Electrotherapy is today one of the most accepted and used skills of physiotherapists, although it is by no means impertinently. The use of heat, coolness and electrical excitant have been in use for a long time now, but the constituent(a) problem is that the benefits and the advantages or disadvantages if any have non been analyzed or accounted for, and this means that the method is not as widely used as it can be.However, it remains a fact that electricity has been used by medical practitioners for hundreds of years now, and it is now one of the most common handling startes, giving new hope to millions of suffere rs across the globe. (Kitchen, Sheila 2002) Take for example this table demonstrating the im testifyment in the management of pain in osteoarthritis using electrotherapy.Recent research has been able to prove that electricity would be able to bugger off immediate relief for both acute as well as chronic pain, and it must be remembered that in the case of osteoarthritis, the pain can be both acute and chronic. Nevertheless, the exact mechanism of electrotherapy is not known yet, although it is true that the method can block the transmission of pain signals across the steel, and can also cause the release of endorphins, or the natural painkillers that are created by the body to combat pain.There can be several different types of electrotherapy methods, and some of them are TENS, or transcutaneous electrical mettle stimulation, inferential current, and galvanic stimulation. One must note that all the three methods use electrotherapy to stimulate fondnesss and muscles, through the a dhesive pads that are applied on the skin. Electrotherapy must never be used over malignancies, open infections, over pacemaker leads, and over the throat, because it may cause lowered blood pressure, and over a pregnant uterus, as it may affect the fetus.In the year 2004, a randomized double dim pilot study on the impact of electrotherapy on about sixty four osteoarthritis uncomplainings damage from moderate to severe pain in their various joints was conducted. The aim was to study whether the therapy would be useful in alleviating the pain for these diligents, and it was found that it would definitely be able to provide temporary relief from severe and impermissible pain. At the present time, stated the researchers who were involved in the experiment, pain relief for osteoarthritis is predominantly medication, and this approach could mould purify relief.In the study, the approach was to apply micro to milliamp current to certain specific areas of the patients head. This wou ld result in the release of endogenous opioids from the various pain management areas located at heart the human brain. For a period of two weeks prior to and tow weeks after the study, the subject pain was self-importance assessed using the value scale, and none of the physicians, patients and the device operators were let in on which device was hearty and which, false, and the data thus collected revealed the interesting fact that electrotherapy was indeed beneficial in bringing down the pain of the patients of osteoarthritis.According to the Australian Physiotherapy Association, there is sufficient evidence available to prove that physical therapy management of the knee joints is a very good idea, and that there is a lack of evidence to prove that electrotherapy, specifically shortwave diathermy, including ultrasound, microwave and shortwave may be useful in managing the pain. It may however be true that a recent Cochrane review was able to prove conclusively that TENS or tran scutaneous electrical nerve stimulation may be quite effective in controlling pain in these patients.However, better designed studies have to be made before it can be stated that TENS can be used to treat pain for osteoarthritis sufferers. (Bennell K, Hinman R, Crossley K 2001) It is important that the treatment plan must be made with the complete cooperation and consultation with the patient. The treatment goals would depend on the timescale of the treatment that he or she is undergoing for his osteoarthritis, the patient profile, and the affected joints. This would ensure that the patient achieves the maximum benefits of the treatment, so that he may be able to have-to doe with living a healthy and active life.Although research has shown that electrotherapy methods like laser therapy and ultrasound do not bring in any significant levels of improvement in the long term for the pain, they do bring in immediate relief from the pain. (EMHM Vogels, HJM Hendrick et al 2003) This cannot be taken to mean that electrotherapy does not bring relief for patients of osteoarthritis it has been found that low power laser therapy has brought great relief for the pain of sufferers of osteoarthritis in Russia and in Eastern Europe.A study showed that electrotherapy brought relief for pain, mobility, tenderness and functioning in these patients, with relatively pocketable adverse effects. In all probability, the mechanisms treated successfully using laser electrotherapy included peripheral nerve stimulation, resolution of inflammation, enhanced chondrocyte proliferation and increased matrix synthesis. (Ghassemi, M, Marks R 1999)There can be no doubt that the studies conducted so far are by no means conclusive, and the issue of handling the joint pains of those suffering from osteoarthritis with electrotherapy must be analyzed and studies further to bring in realistic statistics and real results. Perhaps, very soon, there may be available some sort of revolutionary treatment for the management of pain, which these patients would be able to use without fear of side effects or other complications, so that they may be able to continue to live an active and healthy lifestyle.