Diathermy Effectiveness in Reducing Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue Affected by Lipedema

Diathermy, a therapy that uses deep heat to reach deep tissue layers, is known to induce the breaking down of fatty cells and fibrotic tissue. In lipedema, patients develop fibrosis of their subcutaneous adipose tissue. Therefore, diathermy could be an interesting tool to treat this disease. To test the effectiveness of diathermy on these patients, the investigators will select women with lipedema (18 to 70 yo) and place them in two groups (experimental and control group). The experimental group will receive the treatment, that is, 10 minutes of diathermy on the medial knee surface of both knees, with an intensity that produces heat just below the participants\' pain threshold. Participants from the control group will receive sham diathermy, that is, placebo. The intervention consists of 10 sessions, 3 times a week, for 4 weeks. Researchers will collect data pre and post intervention and one month after the intervention ends. Data will consist of measurements at knee level with tape and an ultrasound device, pain threshold with an algometer, a VAS score and an SF-12 questionnaire for quality of life.