To Investigate the Effect of PEMF for Knee OA Patients

Health care costs are increasing alarmingly, which will impose an overwhelming economic burden to an aging society like that of Hong Kong. For example, degenerative musculoskeletal disorders such as osteoarthritis (OA) present a grand challenge with its high prevalence (\>40% in the elderly suffered from knee OA). Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis, and around 2 million population worldwide suffer from this disorder. OA is a debilitating progressive disease with typical pathological progress such as cartilage degeneration, inflammation, joint width narrowing and developing osteophytes. The main system of knee OA is acute pain leading to loss of mobility. There is no effective treatment to cure or stop the progression of OA. For now, the main method is to alleviate the pain and symptoms, including control weight, exercise, physical treatment and intake of NSAIDs/ paracetamol. Pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) treatment has shown to enhance cell activity related to tissue healing, delay bone and cartilage degeneration and give beneficial effects such as relief in pain, anti-inflammation and reduce swelling. In clinic, PEMF treatment has been reported to be safe, and has been proved to reduce the usage of NSAIDs and pain in patients with knee OA. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of PEMF therapy on for patients with knee OA, including delay the degeneration of articular cartilage, restore the subchondral bone, reduce knee pain and symptoms as well as improve the muscle strength and functions, and even improving the quality of life. Based on the aim of this study, older adult patients (aged 50 or above) with a unilateral knee OA with Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) grade 2-3 by X-ray, visual analogue scale (VAS) \>4, no acute knee injuries and muscle strain in past 3 months, and no alleviation of symptoms after ≥ 3 months of nonsurgical treatment. To estimate the improvement of patients the following assessments will be performed, including patient-reported outcomes, muscle strength and physical function assessments, serum evaluation, and imaging examination.