Comparison of two physiotherapy treatments in reducing pain and increasing functional autonomy of elderly patients with gonarthrosis

Objective: To compare the treatment of manual therapy associated with ultrasound, and conventional kinesiotherapy associated with gallium arsenide laser (GaAs) in reducing pain and increasing functional autonomy in elderly patients with gonarthrosis. Methods: Clinical trial, with quasi-experimental design. The sample was randomly divided into two groups: experimental group 1 (EG1, n=44, age=68±7.64 years, body mass index: 26.77±4.74kg/m2) - patients with gonarthrosis undergoing physical therapy with manual therapy and ultrasound; and experimental group 2 (EG2, n=20, age 70±5.49 years, body mass index: 27.11±4.63kg/m2) - patients with gonarthrosis undergoing physical therapy and laser therapy with conventional kinesiotherapy. We analyzed functional autonomy (Protocol Development Group for Latin American Maturity - GDLAM) and pain symptoms (Borg CR10 scale). Both EGs participated in 45-minute training sessions, twice a week for eight consecutive weeks. The significance level was p<0.05. Results: It was observed significant improvement in the reduction of the functional autonomy index GDLAM (p<0.001) in both EG1 (Δ=16.14) and in EG2 (Δ=9.32). Similarly, there was significant decrease (p<0.001) in the level of pain in both EG1 (Δ=5.09) and EG2 (Δ=7.1). The power of the experiment was 98%. Conclusions: Both treatments were effective in increasing the functional autonomy and reduction of pain in elderly patients with gonarthrosis.