Introduction & Purpose: Degenerative arthritis of the knee joint is one of the most common conditions being managed by Physiotherapists world over on a daily basis. Degeneration of the articular cartilage is characterized by pain, decrease in range of motion and decline in function which in turn affects their quality of life and has a great economic impact on individuals. Manual therapy and electrotherapy are accepted in literature as two most important pillars for the management strategies being practiced for managing OA of the knees with varying results.Hence, this research was carried out in order to identify various electrical and manual therapy modalities preferred by Physiotherapists in management of OA of knee joints.
Methodology-Post Institutional Ethics committee approval, this retrospective cross-sectional survey based study was conducted on 100 consenting practicing physical therapists with a minimum of 3 years of clinical experience who were asked for their choicest electrical & manual therapy techniques and their perceived effectiveness in managing signs & symptoms of OA knees
Data Analysis & Results- 85% of practicing physiotherapists preferred a combination of manual and electrotherapy. Joint mobilization was found to be most effective in pain modulation (71%) & improving ROM (82%).
Exercise was found most effective mode for the improvement in function and swelling.
In electrotherapy, 75% of the subjects found cryotherapy more effective than Heat for pain modulation and 79% subjects found it better than heat for managing swelling.
Conclusion- A combination of manual therapy and electrotherapy was perceived most effective by majority of practicing therapists
The study reaffirms the need for comparative studies to curtail use of obsolete modalities that are not providing efficacious results and newer techniques can be added with due deliberation of research and trial.
Impact Factor
2022: 6.012
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