Introduction: Osteoarthritis is a degenerative process that can lead to the deformation of the knee joint and particularly in the elderly cause problems with everyday activities and reduce the quality of life. The main symptom is pain. Physiotherapy has an important role in its treatment. Instrumental physiotherapy, like ultrasound, is often used for the reduction of pain or as a pre-preparation for exercise. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to present the efficacy of therapeutic ultrasound for the reduction of pain in knee osteoarthritis, based on the review of published professional and scientific literature. Methods: The articles were searched for in the databases PubMed, PEDro and Cochrane Library. Included were randomised controlled trials, conducted between 2005 and 2017, where they have analysed the influence of ultrasound in combination with exercises on pain in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Results: The analysis included eight studies. Five of them were analysing the effects of ultrasound on the reduction of pain in comparison with a placebo ultrasound and the remaining three were analysing the effect of ultrasound and exercising on pain compared to the control group, which received a placebo ultrasound with or without exercises. For the assessment of efficacy of the ultrasound for the reduction of pain were used the visual analogue scale and questionnaire WOMAC. In six studies they proved a statistically significant reduction of pain, in one study, statistically significant differences between groups only for certain results of the measurements and in one study there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups. Discussion and conclusion: All the groups, including the control groups, experienced a reduction of pain, which implies that the placebo effect has a major influence. The results of the studies show that the pulsed ultrasound is more effective than the continuous one. Due to the heterogeneity of the used parameters of ultrasound it is hard to identify the most effective parameters for the reduction of pain in knee osteoarthritis. It is also difficult to speak about the long-term effects of ultrasound as an individual therapy or in combination with exercise on pain. Despite the reduction of pain, there is a lack of evidence about the efficacy of the ultrasound therapy in knee osteoarthritis, therefore, additional high quality studies are needed.
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