Pengaruh Fisioterapi Terhadap Perbaikan Rasa Nyeri Pada Penderita Osteoartritis Lutut Yang Mendapat Terapi Parasetamol

Nyoman Kertia, Siti Nurdjanah - Impact of physiotherapy on pain improvement in patients with knee osteoarthritis who took paracetamol Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee is a disease caused by several etiologies but similar biology, morphology and clinical presentation. It doesn\u27t only affect joint cartilage, but also subchondral bone, ligament, capsule, membrane of joint and periarticular muscles. Chief complaints in OA of the knee are pain and physical disability. In OA of the knee there is lower limb weakness, particularly quadriceps muscles and the weakness severity is related to pain and disability. Objective: To know the combination of physiotherapy and paracetamol compound to paracetamol alone in OA of the knee. Methods: This study is a randomized controlled trial in OA of the knee in patients with moderate pain in Internal Medicine Department Outpatients Clinic, Dr. Sardjito Hospital, Yogyakarta. Patients were randomly divided into 2 groups. Treatment group (17 patients) took physiotherapy and paracetamol. Control group (19 patients) took paracetamol only. Physiotherapy was performed in Medical Rehabilitation Clinic with isometric exercise three times weekly and paracetamol 500 mg three times daily for 4 weeks. Pain intensity was measured by visual analogue scale (VAS) 100 mm before and after treatment. Result: There was significant decrease in the mean of pain intensity before and after treatment between treatment and control groups as much as 6.65 ± 5.134 mm (95% CI 32.14 to 41.15p < 0.0001) and 28.84 ± 8.760 mm (95% CI 26.37 to 31.32p < 0.0001), respectively. The decrease of pain intensity was significantly different between two goups (95% CI 3.004 to 12.606p=0.002) after 4 weeks of treatment. No serious adverse events were attributable resulted from paracetamol treatment. Conclusion: Pain intensity in OA of the knee patients who took paracetamol 500 mg three times daily and physiotherapy improved significantly than paracetamol only for 4 weeks of treatment. Key words: knee osteoarthritis, pain, VAS, physiotherapy, paracetamol