NCT05442697

To Investigate the Effect of PEMF for Knee OA Patients

Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields (PEMF) in Knee Osteoarthritis: a Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Randomised Clinical Trial

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 60 (actual)
• Sponsor: Chinese University of Hong Kong · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 50 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

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.

Conditions

• Knee Osteoarthritis

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DEVICE	PEMF treatment	Patient will receive a PEMF treatment. The involved leg will be exposed to PEMF for 30 minutes per session, and the treatment regime will run three times a week for eight weeks, summing up 24 sessions of PEMF exposure in total.
DEVICE	Placebo treatment	Patient will receive a placebo treatment. The involved leg will be exposed to placebo treatment for 30 minutes per session, and the treatment regime will run three times a week for eight weeks, summing up 24 sessions of placebo exposure in total.

Timeline

• Start date: 2022-07-05
• Primary completion: 2024-08-31
• Completion: 2024-08-31
• First posted: 2022-07-05
• Last updated: 2025-05-06

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Hong Kong