Symptoms-modifying effects of electromotive administration of glucosamine sulphate among patients with knee osteoarthritis.

Background: Most trials on symptom-modifying effects of glucosamine are limited to administration through oral route with dearth of empirical data on the use of electromotive force.

Objective: The study determined the effects of glucosamine sulphate (GS) iontophoresis (IoT) on radiographic parameters of patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA).

Methods: Fifty-three patients were randomly assigned to three groups. About 1 g each of GS was administered using IoT and cross-friction massage (CFM) for participants in groups 1 (IoT) and 2 (CFM), respectively. Group 3 ((Combined therapy) CoT) received 1 g of GS using both IoT and CFM. Interventions were twice a week for 12 weeks. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze the data ( $p<0.05$ ).

Results: After 12 weeks, the medial joint space width (JSW) of the CFM group was significantly higher than that of IoT and CoT groups ( $p=0.005$ and $p=0.004$ ). Lateral JSW of IoT group was significantly higher than both CFM ( $p=0.001$ ) and CoT groups ( $p=0.01$ ). There were significant decreases in pain intensities; increase in knee flexion and physical functions across the groups ( $F=9.33,p=0.01;F=3.23,p=0.01$ ; $H=4.97,p=0.01$ , respectively).

Conclusion: It was concluded that there were significant decreases in the degenerative changes at the knee joint.