RESUMEN
PURPOSE: To investigate the effect of Phonophoresis (PP) with the combination of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID's) and myorelaxant versus routine Ultrasound (US) treatment with non-therapeutic gel on the patients with acute low back pain (ABP). METHODS: Sixty patients with ABP were randomly assigned into 2 groups. In Group 1 (nâ¯=â¯30) US was applied using diclofenacâ¯+â¯Thiocolchicoside gel for 10â¯min and for a total of 10 sessions. In Group 2 (nâ¯=â¯30) the same US protocol was applied with the same setting and timing with Group 1 using US gel that does not contain any pharmaceutical ingredient. Evaluation parameters were Visual numeric scale (VNS), Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), and Shober test. RESULTS: Comparison of the results obtained from the two groups before treatment and at second (W2) and sixth weeks (W6) posttreatment showed significant improvement in all parameters in both groups (pâ¯<â¯0.05). Comparison of the groups showed significantly superior improvement in Group 1 for ODI while there was no difference in other parameters at W2. At W6, there was significantly superior improvement in all parameters (pâ¯<â¯0.05) except for Shober test in Group1. CONCLUSION: Our results showed that PP treatment is superior than conventional US therapy at short term in ABP patients.