Clinical Trials Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Orthop. Oct 18, 2021; 12(10): 781-790
Published online Oct 18, 2021. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v12.i10.781
Short-term effectiveness of high- and low-intensity percutaneous electrolysis in patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome: A pilot study
Juan Antonio Valera-Calero, Alberto Sánchez-Mayoral-Martín, Umut Varol
Juan Antonio Valera-Calero, Alberto Sánchez-Mayoral-Martín, Department of Physiotherapy, Camilo Jose Cela University, Madrid 28692, Spain
Umut Varol, Business Analytics and Big Data, IE School of Human Sciences and Technology, Madrid 28006, Spain
Author contributions: Valera-Calero JA conceived and designed the study; Valera-Calero JA, Varol U, and Sánchez-Mayoral-Martín A contributed to data acquisition; Valera-Calero JA analyzed and interpreted the data; Valera-Calero JA drafted and critically revised the manuscript; Valera-Calero JA contributed to the statistical analysis and supervised the study.
Institutional review board statement: This manuscript was revised and approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee of Clinical Research of Alfonso X el Sabio University (UAX 26-02-2020).
Clinical trial registration statement: The study protocol is prospectively registered and available at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04390438).
Informed consent statement: All participants read and signed a written consent prior to their participation in the study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest.
Data sharing statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author (JA Valera-Calero), upon reasonable request.
CONSORT 2010 statement: This clinical trial followed the CONSORT for pragmatic clinical trials.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Juan Antonio Valera-Calero, MSc, PhD, Physiotherapist, Professor, Physiotherapy, Camilo Jose Cela University, Calle castillo de Alarcón 49, Madrid 28692, Spain. javalera@ucjc.edu
Received: February 26, 2021
Peer-review started: February 26, 2021
First decision: May 3, 2021
Revised: May 3, 2021
Accepted: August 4, 2021
Article in press: August 4, 2021
Published online: October 18, 2021
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Dry needling (DN) has shown no additional improvements compared with placebo in patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS).

Research motivation

Previous evidence suggested that percutaneous electrolysis could be more effective than DN for managing musculoskeletal pain. However, evidence is limited regarding its efficacy in different conditions and locations.

Research objectives

The efficacy of percutaneous electrolysis compared with DN in patients with unilateral PFPS for improving pain pressure thresholds, subjective anterior knee pain perception and perceived pain during interventions were assessed.

Research methods

A parallel-group, controlled, triple-blinded, randomized pilot clinical trial was conducted to compare high-intensity percutaneous electrolysis, low-intensity percutaneous electrolysis and DN applied to the most active myofascial trigger points located in the rectus femoris.

Research results

Both percutaneous electrolysis modalities induced similar short-term effects on pain perception and sensitivity in patients with unilateral patellofemoral pain syndrome. However, percutaneous electrolysis was better tolerated compared with DN.

Research conclusions

Percutaneous electrolysis could be a potential less-painful alternative to DN for reducing pain in patients with unilateral PFPS.

Research perspectives

Further research including larger sample sizes, number of sessions and longer follow-up is needed.