Dear Henry,
What is Likon & now is it used for psoas?
Thank you.
Sarah Fern Striffler, PT
Henry Tsao wrote:
> To Mr Cheng, Bruce, and others who are interested in this contraversial
> field of electrotherapy:
>
> I have been following the debate recently between the EPA and Bruce, and
> since I started this whole contraversial debate, I thought I might go and
> have a look a the latest literature on electrotherapy. I don't believe in
> personal attacks, and think that physiotherapists should be able to make up
> their minds on the issue.
>
> Before I go on, I will just explain. I work in a busy private practice where
> we allocate 30 min. roughly per patient. I do use US on trigger points after
> acupressure, and Likon on the sympathetic nervous system/psoas (especially
> in chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia patients) to reduce its activity, but I
> don't use any electro for any other reason unless the patient themselves
> request it (and let's face it, I get old clients who come in and just want
> to be mob'ed, US'ed and IFT'ed... and that is their choice!!).
>
> I found an interesting article the other day in the Pain journal on the
> effectiveness of ultrasound therapy on musculoskeletal pain (Pain 81, 1999
> 257-271). It basically evaluated the use of US, and looked at the existing
> research on the topic. They basically concluded that for lateral
> epicondylitis, soft tissue shoulder disorders, deegn rheumatic disorders,
> ankle distorsions and TMJ disorders, US showed no significant clinical
> effect. Even when they combined US with exercise therapy, there was
> clinically important or statistically significant differences in favour of
> US (which I was surprised to read, as we always thought that US was
> effective only when it is used as an adjunct!!). Even though this does not
> totally rule out the uselessness of US therapy, it definitely has some
> strong gound to stand on!
>
> On the contrary, I found in the Am J of Physical Medicine and Rehab(79, 1,
> p48-52, 2000) an article that looked at the use of US, dry needle, and
> stretches of myofascial trigger points in the Upper Trap muscles. They found
> that US combined with stretches and dry needle combined with stretches
> produced significant results compared to simply stretching alone. However,
> there was no difference between dry needle and the use of US in combination
> with stretches.
>
> I find it interesting that even though Mr Cheng has noted a few articles
> that claim to have clinical evidence of electrotherapy, most of the
> literature out there disproves the effectiveness of electrotherapy, and
> these should not be ignored. However, this issue will still continue to be
> contraversial, the research will go on, and physiotherapists will form their
> own opinions of what electro to use. Despite this, I support Bruce's
> statement that time and cost is a big factor in this, and should not be
> ignored. Unless we are in the field of sport physio and see athletes 3x a
> day, 5x a week, I don't see the point of 15min/2x/week - how much difference
> is it going to make because that is less than 1% of their week's time!!
> Emphasis in this case should be on teaching the patients ultimately how to
> look after themselves thus preventing future injury. Most people want to get
> better, but also want to know how to keep themselves better, and
> electrotherapy does not do this.
>
> Going through an undergraduate degree whereby electrotherapy was focused so
> much and yet despised by most students(including myself), I am not for or
> against electrotherapy. However, I believe (and this is only my opinion)
> that unless there is more research for the efficacy of electrotherapy, not
> too many future physiotherapists will include it in their treatment regime.
>
> Henry***
>
> >From: "Goh Ah Cheng" <[log in to unmask]>
> >Reply-To: "Goh Ah Cheng" <[log in to unmask]>
> >To: <[log in to unmask]>, <[log in to unmask]>
> >Subject: Fw: EPA and evidence based practice
> >Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2000 18:18:00 +0900
> >
> >Dear Fellow EPA and PHYSIO Mail-list members,
> >
> >Below is the reply from Bruce. He has chosen to reply to me directly
> >instead of the list, so I am doing him a favour by forwarding it to the
> >both
> >lists (It must have been an oversight on his part.... perhaps due to
> >another
> >hard day at work).
> >You may want to know that I, Panos and the entire academic community have
> >been dismissed by Bruce as unworthy of providing evidence for EPA (or any
> >subject for that matter) because WE LEFT THE CLINIC. I am not even going
> >to
> >respond to this.....
> >Secondly, the scientific method has also been denounced as being
> >inappropriate for any discussion on evidence based practice (I assume not
> >only for EPA, but for our entire base of knowledge!!). Am I missing out on
> >something here??
> >Thirdly, EPA can be dismissed by all of us from this day henceforth because
> >it has been around for the past 50 years and the world was not impressed!!
> >I must have missed out when everyone was out there casting their votes.
> >Fourthly, God is dead.
> >And finally, any discussion that goes contrary to Bruce's point of view is
> >immature, incurs opportunity costs and is a waste of taxpayers dollars.
> >That is the FINAL WORD, according to Bruce, Chapter 4, Verse Sick (I mean,
> >Six).
> >Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go look for another God.
> >Completey Devastated,
> >Cheng
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: Bruce Gray <[log in to unmask]>
> >To: <[log in to unmask]>
> >Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2000 5:46 PM
> >Subject: Re: EPA and evidence based practice
> >
> >
> > > Hi Gohac
> > >
> > > On this website, I have found the greatest support for electrotherapy
> >comes from academics. I have no idea how much clinical experience they draw
> >on, or why they left the clinic.
> > > These critics, esp yourself and Panos, seem to make a lot of time to
> >reply
> >with verbose highbrow sarcasm, using one or two papers here and there to
> >give your point invincible Truth status.
> > > As anyone who has read knows, the scientific method does not deal in
> >deduced ultimate truths, instead it induces enough evidence for a consensus
> >to be reached by field peers.
> > >
> > > That electrotherapy has been around for 50 years and not wowed the world
> >with its superior healing powers let alone drawn together scientific peer
> >consensus is enough for me to burst the bubble on its overinflated cult
> >following.
> > >
> > > Let's face it guys, your God is dead.
> > >
> > > And please show some maturity by recognising the opportunity costs of
> >continuing this argument. Anything I wanted to say has been said. And I
> >assume the same for yourselves. Let it rest at that, and get on with doing
> >something more productive with tax payers' dollars.
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________________________________
> > >
> > > Free Unlimited Internet Access! Try it now!
> > > http://www.zdnet.com/downloads/altavista/index.html
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________________________________
> > >
> > >
> >
>
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