Electrical Intramuscular Stimulation in Osteoarthritis Enhances the Inhibitory Systems in Pain Processing at Cortical and Cortical Spinal System

摘要

Objective. To determine if in knee osteoarthritis ( KOA), one session of active electrical intramuscular stimulation ( a- EIMS) compared with sham causes an effect on the motor cortex excitability parameters [ motor evoked potential ( MEP; the primary outcome), short intracortical inhibition ( SICI), intracortical facilitation ( ICF) and cortical silent period ( CSP)] and pain measurements [ pain pressure threshold ( PPT); visual analog scale ( VAS) and change in numerical pain scale ( NPS0- 10) during the conditioned pain modulation ( CPM)- task]. This study also set out to determine if serum brainderived neurotrophic factor ( BDNF) mediates the effect of treatment on the cortical spinal system as assessed by MEP and PPT.