Philippine E-Journals

A randomized controlled trial of virgin coconut oil and ultrasound gel as coupling medium for therapeutic ultrasound in the management of pain from degenerative osteoarthritis

Raquel S. Cabazor

Discipline: Alternative Medicine

 

Abstract:

Introduction This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of direct ultrasound treatment coupled with virgin coconut oil to ultrasound treatment coupled with standard ultrasound gel in the management of pain in degenerative osteoarthritis of the knee.

Methods Twenty-four patients were randomly assigned to either virgin coconut oil or gel groups. Continuous ultrasound of 1.0 MHz frequency and 1.5 watts/cm2 was applied for seven minutes to the painful knee joint for 12 treatment sessions using either virgin coconut oil or gel as coupling medium. The outcome measures were pain level assessed by a visual analogue scale and onset of pain relief from the baseline to four weeks post-treatment. Significant pain relief was defined as a 20% decrease from the baseline pain score. The onset of pain relief was recorded as three consecutive days of decrease from the baseline score.

Results Both groups had a mean pain score of 7.5. After two weeks, there was a lower mean score (2.6) for the virgin coconut oil group compared with the gel group (2.9). After four weeks, there was a lower mean score for the gel group (2.1) compared with the virgin coconut oil group (2.5). An earlier onset of pain relief was noted for the virgin coconut oil group (15.9 ± 10.1 days) compared with the gel group (18.3 ± 8.3 days). The differences in the mean pain scores and onset of pain relief between the two groups were not significant.

Conclusion Virgin coconut oil is as effective as standard gel when used as coupling media in therapeutic ultrasound in pain management for degenerative osteoarthritis of the knee. Virgin coconut oil may be an alternative coupling medium for therapeutic ultrasound that is locally available and relatively inexpensive.