Knee Arthrosis
The effect of pulsed magnetic field stimulation was investigated in a group of 40 consecutive patients treated with valgus tibial osteotomy for degenerative arthrosis of the knee. All patients were operated on by the same author and followed the same postoperative program.
After surgery, patients were randomly assigned to a control group (dummy stimulators) or to a stimulated one (active pulsed magnetic field stimulators). Four orthopedic surgeons, unaware of the experimental conditions, were asked to evaluate the roentgenograms taken 60 days post-operatively and to rate the osteotomy healing according to four categories (the fourth category being the most advanced stage of healing).
In the control group, 73.6% of the patients were included in the first and second category. In the stimulated group, 72.2% of the patients were included in the third and fourth category.
The results of the homogeneous group of patients therefore confirmed that pulsed magnetic therapy has very positive healing effect on tibial osteotomy patients with arthrosis of the knee.
Reference: Mammi, G. I. et al. (1993) The electrical stimulation of tibial osteotomies: Double-blind study. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research. (288), 246–253.