Efetividade dos recursos eletrotermofototerapêuticos no alivio da dor lombar em idosos: uma revisão da literatura

Abstract

In Brazil, life expectancy expands rapidly proving the accelerated aging of the population. This transformation is not being accompanied by an infrastructure of services that demand this population profile. Among the chronic diseases that affect the elderly there is a high prevalence of low back pain due to bodily changes and lifestyle that accompanies the individual throughout life causing functional disability and poor quality of life. Physical therapy and drug therapy are the preferred treatments for low back pain and electrothermal and phototherapy (ETPT), being widely used in clinical practice to reduce pain even with effectiveness challenged by several studies. This literature review aims to determine the characteristics of the interventions ETFTs resources and evaluate the effectiveness of the results in Randomized Clinical Trials (RCT) in which the average age of participants was less than 60 years regardless of the amplitude of age. Were used the Virtual Library databases Health, Pubmed and PEDro to recruit RCT published from 2005 with the following keywords: Electrotherapy, Thermotherapy, Phototherapy, Ultrasound, Laser Therapy, Transcutaneous Electrical Stimulation, TENS, Diathermy, Microwaves, Shortwaves and Infrared Therapy in combination with Low Back Pain, Back Pain, Aged e Elderly. Three specific RCTs were found for the elderly and added another five with sample with the highest average age of 60 years. The results showed satisfactory effects of whole-body cryotherapy, Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) and Electrical Nerve Stimulation Percutaneous (PENS) in the elderly; however, the Practice Based guides in Evidences not recommend the use and reveal lack of secure evidence and inadequate methodological rigor.