Magnetotherapy in patients with knee osteoarthrosis: thermographic efficacy indicators

Background. Osteoarthrosis is characterized by wide prevalence, especially among patients of older age groups, a high risk of restrictions on the musculoskeletal system function, which results in the patients’ impaired ability to work and reduced quality of life.

Aim: investigate the possibilities of thermographic assessment of efficiency of magnetotherapy of the articular syndrome in osteoarthrosis of the knee joints.

Methods. The study included 57 patients (46 women and 11 men) with osteoarthrosis of the knee joints (mean age 61.2±7.4 years). The patients were divided into two groups. In the group 1 (n=29), magnetotherapy with the ALMAG-01 apparatus was used, while in the group 2 (n=28), the placebo apparatus was applied.

Results. The inclusion of magnetotherapy in the complex therapy of osteoarthrosis of the knee joints, according to thermographic data, increases significantly the efficiency of treatment and differs significantly from the placebo magnetotherapy procedures. In patients with osteoarthrosis of the knee joints of the X-ray stages I and II, a combination of course treatment using a traveling pulsed magnetic field and standard drug therapy revealed a positive dynamics in normalization of the temperature balance of the joints. In patients with osteoarthrosis of the X-ray stage I, the minimum efficiency of magnetotherapy was revealed according to thermography, which indicates low severity of the inflammatory joint syndrome.

Conclusion. The method of infrared thermography can be used as a diagnostic technique, as it reflects the degree of activity of the inflammatory process in the joints with osteoarthrosis.