The Effects Of Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy For Knee Osteoarthritis

Objective To investigate the effects of Extracorporeal shock wave therapy(ESWT)and Hyaluronic acid(HA)for knee osteoarthritis.Methods According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria,90 patients with the osteoarthritis of knee were treated in Xiamen second hospital from June 2015 to May 2016.The patients were randomly classified into two groups: group E,which was treated with ESWT(n=45)and group H,which was treated with HA(n=45).The main outcome measures were the visual analogue scale(VAS),the Roles and Maudsley(RM)score,the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index(WOMAC)score,and the Lequesne index.Each assessment was performed at the baseline and at 1,4,and 12 weeks after ESWT.Results In both groups,the VAS,the RM and WOMAC scores,and the Lequesne index were significantly improved over time(p<0.005),and group E showed greater improvement over group H at the 1,4 and 12 weeks assessments.Conclusion In this study,ESWT showed greater improvement in regard to relieving pain and restoring functional outcome than the HA group(group H).Therefore,ESWT can be considered to have significant influence when treating for knee osteoarthritis.