Effect of Cold, Warm or Contrast Therapy on Controlling Knee Osteoarthritis Associated Problems

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most prevalent and far common debilitating form of arthritis which can be defined as a degenerative condition affecting synovial joint. Patients suffering from osteoarthritis often complain of dull ache pain on movement. Physical agents can fight the painful process when correctly indicated and used such as heat or cold therapy Aim. This study was carried out to: Compare the effect of cold, warm and contrast therapy on controlling knee osteoarthritis associated problems. Setting: The study was carried out in orthopedic outpatient clinics of Menoufia University and teaching Hospitals, Egypt. Sample: A convenient sample of 60 adult patients with unilateral knee osteoarthritis. Tools: three tools were utilized to collect the data. Tool I: An interviewing questionnaire. It comprised of three parts covering sociodemographic data, medical data and adverse effects of the treatment protocol. Tool II: Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS). It consists of five main parts. Tool II1: 0-10 Numeric pain rating scale. Results: revealed that the total knee symptoms score was decreased from moderate symptoms pre intervention to mild symptoms after warm and contrast method of therapy, but the contrast therapy had significant effect in reducing the knee symptoms and pain than the other symptoms. Conclusions: all of the three methods of therapy resulted in improvement in all knee symptoms and pain but the most appropriate protocol of treatment to relive symptoms and pain was contrast therapy. Keywords—Knee Osteoarthritis, Cold, Warm and Contrast Therapy.