A controlled randomized trial with a 12-week follow-up investigating the effects of medium-frequency neuromuscular electrical stimulation on pain, VMO thickness, and functionality in patients with knee osteoarthritis

Moezy A, Masoudi S, Nazari A, Abasi A · BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders

Stimulation added to exercise beat both single treatments on knee flexion range, thigh girth and vastus medialis obliquus thickness, immediately after treatment and at 12 weeks (all P < 0.005), and on WOMAC stiffness, pain and function at follow-up. Stimulation alone gave the lowest pain score at 12 weeks (P = 0.022), the best timed-up-and-go and six-minute-walk results, and the best WOMAC total (P = 0.007). Nothing structural was measured: the thickness read by ultrasound is muscle, not cartilage.

Population

Seventy-five women with knee osteoarthritis, randomised three ways

Intervention

Medium-frequency neuromuscular electrical stimulation alone, or stimulation plus exercise therapy, over 12 supervised sessions across four weeks

Comparator

Exercise therapy alone

Limitations

Seventy-five women at one centre, 25 per arm, with no placebo-stimulation arm, so nothing separates the current from the attention and the electrodes. Which treatment won depends on the outcome chosen — stimulation alone leads on some scales and stimulation with exercise on others — and no primary outcome is nominated. Follow-up ends at 12 weeks. Registered as IRCT20101228005486N7. No funding declared; the authors declare no competing interests.