Role of Electrotherapy in Treating Chronic Musculoskeletal Conditions: A Narrative Review of the Last 5 Years

Abstract

Chronic musculoskeletal conditions encompass a variety of disorders and impairments, some of which include chronic low back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, arthritis, fibromyalgia, tendonitis, osteoporosis, and so on. Electrotherapy refers to the use of electrical modalities in order to treat such conditions in physiotherapy. This non-pharmacological treatment equipment, such as, transcutaneous electrical stimulation, interferential therapy, shortwave diathermy, and LASER (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation), may or may not have profound effects on the aforementioned conditions. The purpose of this review article was to investigate and summarize the role of electrotherapy in order to manage chronic disorders and hence, try to quantify its magnitude while updating previous relevant knowledge on this particular topic. The design of the current study was based on a narrative review. A total of 58 studies were consulted. According to the inclusion criteria of the current research, studies published within last five years treating chronic musculoskeletal diseases, using electrotherapy modalities were included. However, any study more than five years’ time period was excluded. The primary hypothesis of this study suggested that the electrotherapy carries significant effect to treat chronic musculoskeletal conditions. According to the secondary hypothesis, there exists no  relationship between electrotherapy modalities and chronic musculoskeletal conditions.