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Evidence summaries

Electrical Muscle Stimulation for Osteoarthritis of the Knee

Electrical muscle stimulation may have some effect on symptoms in osteoarthritis of the knee. Level of evidence: "C"

A systematic review 1 including 7 studies with a total of 230 subjects was abstracted in DARE. Six of the seven studies demonstrated one or more physiological and/or clinical post-treatment improvements over and above the control conditions. The benefits recorded included attenuation of muscle atrophy; normalisation of protein turnover; increases in maximal force generating capacity; reduced knee extensor lag; decreased hospitalisation; functional improvements; and decreased pain.

Comment: methodological quality of studies was generally poor with small sample sizes and flawed allocation procedures.

    References

    • Marks R, Ungar M, Ghasemmi M. Electrical muscle stimulation for osteoarthritis of the knee: biological basis and systematic review. New Zealand Journal of Physiotherapy 2000, 28(3), 6-20. [DARE]

Primary/Secondary Keywords