Objective- To determine the effect of the transcutaneous electrical neural stimulation on healing of hip joint cartilage defect in rabbit.
Design- Experimental in vivo study.
Animals- 12 adult New Zealand rabbits were used.
Procedures- Under effective the right femoral head was subluxated and the maximum accessible cartilage was denuded up to subchondral bone using dental bit in each rabbit. Then rabbits were divided into two groups of control( I ) with no treatment and treatment group( II) which were subjected to Transcutaneous Electrical Neural Stimulation on 3rd day with frequency of 100 Hz and 80 ?s intensity daily for 10 minutes in 14 days, having 6 rabbits each. These groups further were subdivided into 2 subgroups of 3 rabbits each with duration of one, and three months. The samples were collected for histomorphological study on day 30 and 90 days which were stained with H&E stain.
Results- The samples did not show any local reaction on denuded surface in control group; whereas, the fibrous tissue in the central defect, with progression of the healing tissue to fibrocartilage as healing progressed up to 3 months in treated ones. Preliminary results indicate an increased stimulation of the repair tissue, as evidenced by total healing of three of the experimental defects with fibrocartilage as compared to the control specimens.
Conclusion and Clinical Relevance- TENS as a physical method of therapy is quite effective in cartilage healing and induces faster remodeling of fibrocartilage fibers.