Successful Electrotherapy

Arthritis in the United States affects nearly 46 million Americans. The biggest challenge most individuals have is treating the pain and inflammation associated with the disease. Arthritis sufferers who experience significant pain find it hard to be productive and carry on normal lives. In addition, effective treatment options are wide and in most cases, ineffective. The good news is that new advances in technology and modifications to old technologies continue to show promising results for treating the disease. Electrotherapy is one such technology. Electrotherapy for the use of treating knee pain associated with a wide variety of knee ailments has received a lot of negative press in recent years, but our research has shown that small adjustments in electrical stimulation delivery and new methods in treatment can be very effective.

Electrotherapy is the use of electrical energy to stimulate muscles and nerves within the body to generate natural mechanisms to heal a wide variety of medical ailments, in this case, knee pain and inflammation. It is believed that this stimulation suppresses interleukin-1 (IL-1), which is the cytokine responsible for regulating immune and inflammatory responses in the brain. It is also believed that this releases endorphins, stimulates the Peri-Aquaductal grey area of the brain and acts on pain receptors to reduce and possibly eliminate knee pain for arthritis/osteoarthritis sufferers.

Patients in our study group have shown an 82% reduction in pain based on the scoring results from the KOOS outcome test. Our research has shown that adjustments to the frequency and sequence of traditional electrical stimulation have a dramatic effect on treating knee pain and inflammation. Additionally, traditional treatment methods involve icing the affected areas after treatment. We found that this is not necessary and, in fact, has a negative healing effect. It is our belief that more is not necessarily better and consistent steady treatment with electrical stimulation is a practical treatment approach.

We continue to make small tweaks in our methods, monitor our study group and, so far, it is showing great promise in helping patients treat their pain and inflammation and ultimately get back on their feet. It is our philosophy that patients should be cognizant of what works for them, watch their diets and exercise regulary.  We believe that these treatment methods offer a great effective alternative to those suffering from arthritis/osteoarthritis of the knee and with a careful strategy can live a normal active life.

Dr. Brown
http://www.acuknee.com