analgesic and bone healing effects of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation

The effects of TENS on the relief of pain and bone healing was studied after the performance of experimental fractures in rats. With regards to these actions, TENS was compared with indomethacin as a commonly used drug for post-fracture pain relief.The right forelimb of 90 Albino rats was fractured and divided into three equal treatment groups.The first group received TENS, the second group received indomethacin while the rats in group 3 were left to heal spontaneously without any line of treatment. Pain threshold, radiological and histological healing scores were determined for each rat. TENS offers satisfactory analgesia equal to that of indomethacin, and at the same time enhances the process of bone healing in contrast to indomethacin which proved to retard the healing process. It is possible to conclude that TENS is a significant adjunct for simulataneous post fracture analgesia and enhancement of bone healing process and thereby actually shortens the phases of rehabilitation

Effect of short-wave diathermy on achilles tendon healing in rats

This study was to evaluate the effect of short-wave diathermy on the healing of tenomized and repaired rat's tendoachilles. The right tendoachilles of 80 rats were tenomized and sutured with 2-0 silk. Rats were divided equally into an experimental and control groups. On the next day, the right tendoachilles of the experimental group were treated with short-wave diathermy while the right tendoachilles of the control group were mock-treated. Sittings were given every other day for 15 minutes. Half of the rats from each group [n = 20] were evaluated after 10 days of treatment, while the other half were evaluated after 20 days of treatment. After 10 days of treatment, no significant differences were demonstrated between the experimental and control group regarding peritendinous adhesions, tendon breaking strength or histological grade of healing. If treatment continuoud for 20 days, highly significant reduction of peritendinous adhesion and highly significant increase in the grades of tendon healing, were observed in the short-wave[experimental] group when compared to the mock-treated [control] group

Effect of pulsed ultrasonic therapy on skeletal muscle injury in rabbits

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not low dose pulsed ultrasound would enhance healing of skeletal muscle injury. Twenty-four rabbits were the subjects used in this study. The muscle injury was induced by giving all 24 rabbits three local injections of a myotoxic drug [Xylocaine] into the right and left gastrocnemius muscle. The right gastrocnemius of each rabbit was irradiated with pulsed ultrasound every other day. The left gastrocnemius in all rabbits was mock insonated and acted as controls. Half of the rabbits[n = 12] were sacrificed after one week of treatment, while the other half [n=12] were sacrificed after two weeks of treatment. The results revealed that the insonated muscles healed more rapidly and significantly than that of the mock=insonated ones after the first and second weeks of treatment[P> 0.025 and > 0.01, respectively]. These results provide a foundation for the clinical therapeutic use of low dose pulsed ultrasound during the early stage of skeletal muscle healing with expected improved outcome