Estudo do efeito da termoterapia na osteoartritre do joelho

Abstract

As the world population ages, the number of individuals who develop degenerative joint disease also increases. On reaching about 12% to 35% of the population (prevalence of females), osteoarthritis of the knee, is considered the leading cause of musculoskeletal disability in the elderly. Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic disorder of the joints characterized by degeneration of cartilage and subchondral bone. Progressive appearance of signs and symptoms such as pain, swelling and stiffness causing limitations of movements to walk and climb stairs. The knee OA is a disease of inflammatory nature and which has as a result of this joint deformity. Besides its idiopathic form, OA may be secondary to factors "Genetic, non genetic and environmental." One way to treat knee OA is the conservative treatment through the use of thermotherapy. The objective of this study was to review the literature to verify the effectiveness of deep and superficial thermotherapy in controlling pain and swelling in individuals with knee osteoarthritis. Research was carried out in virtual databases: BIREME, MEDLINE, Pubmed, Scielo and PEDro, aiming at selecting knee osteoarthritis articles, respecting the past ten years taking as a base year of implementation of this work. 13 articles that considered the use of superficial and deep thermal therapy to control pain and swelling in the knee OA were used.. Therefore it was concluded that there is a variety of superficial and deep thermal modalities that are beneficial for the treatment of OA of the knee, being safe its use andnot leading to additional losses to individuals.