Efficacy of neuromuscular electrical stimulation on pain of patients with knee osteoarthritis:a meta-analysis / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:Symptomatic treatment is the main management strategy for patients with knee osteoarthritis at early metaphase. Some previous studies have demonstrated that neuromuscular electrical stimulation can al eviate pain in knee osteoarthritis patients. To date, this effectiveness, however, stil remains controversial. OBJECTIVE:To assess the efficacy of neuromuscular electrical stimulation on pain in patients with knee osteoarthritis. METHODRandomized control ed trials concerning the efficacy of neuromuscular electrical stimulation in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis were identified from the Medline database conducted up to July 3, 2014. These studies were selected independently by two reviewers according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Meta-analysis was performed using Revman5.2 software. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:A total of 5 randomized control ed trials consisting of 239 participants were included. The results of the meta-analysis indicate neuromuscular electrical stimulation has no significant impact on measure of pain in knee osteoarthritis patients in comparison to the blank control group [mean difference=-0.40, 95%confidence interval (-1.34-0.54), P=0.40]. Owing to the sample limitations of our study, it is hard for us to draw a conclusion that the application of neuromuscular electrical stimulation in managing pain in patients with knee osteoarthritis is of little significance. Further work based on large-sample and high-quality randomized control ed trials is needed to determine the role of neuromuscular electrical stimulation in pain in this population.