Physiotherapy intervention in the treatment of patients with venous ulcers: a systematic literature review.

Objective: To identify where physiotherapy has been used as an intervention in the treatment of venous ulcers (VUs).

Method: This systematic literature review was prospectively registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews database. The search took place in March 2023 and included four electronic databases: PubMed; Cochrane Library; Web of Science; and SciELO. The review included randomised controlled trials published in the past eight years and which included subjects >18 years of age with a diagnosis of VU, and whose physiotherapy intervention was combined with a multidisciplinary wound management team. The Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale was used to assess the methodological quality.

Results: A total of eight studies were included in the final review. Physiotherapy can treat VUs through two different modalities: therapeutic exercises and electrotherapy. Physiotherapy interventions were adjuvant to the standard treatment for wounds performed by other health professionals. The main outcomes were wound size and healing time, and obtaining favourable results within the experimental groups when compared with the control groups.

Conclusion: The findings of this review demonstrated that therapeutic exercise and electrotherapy are physiotherapy modalities that, when combined with standard treatment, are an aid to the healing process of VUs.