EVALUATION OF INFRARED RADIATION FOR PATIENTS WITH KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS

Background: osteoarthritis is a disease that affects the joints of human body. This pathology can cause a very strong pain in different joint function. Therefore, the effects of infrared contribute to reduce the pain and improving functional capacity patients with osteoarthritis of the knee. Objective: to evaluate the response of the application of infrared in the treatment of patients with osteoarthritis of the knee. Method: a prospective, randomized, longitudinal and observational study was carried out with only one evaluator, in which patients over 50 years of age were included. It was randomly distributed into two groups sample 1 the infrared group and sample 2 the simple massage group. The follow-up time was 6 months from the second week of March 2020 to the end of August 2020. Results: the study carried out using the WOMAC questionnaires evaluating patients with osteoarthritis of the knees which indicated significant statistical differences in the three variables with corresponding values of pain with P=0.00239, stiffness with P=0.00576 and functional capacity with P=0.00950, P< 0.05 which showed some improvement in the symptoms in the infrared group, not being the same in the simple massage group. Limitations: The COVID 19 pandemic limited this research. Conclusion: the infrared radiation can be used as a reliable and effective method for treatment reducing pain and inflammation on patient with osteoarthritis of the knee.