The Effects of Intraarticular Ozone Injection on Pain, Functional Status and Activities of Daily Living in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis

INTRODUCTION: Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a common painful joint disease. Although many pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment methods are available, the use of traditional and complementary medicine approaches has increased in recent years. Intra-articular ozone injection is considered an effective and cost-effective method among these approaches and has been shown to be beneficial in painful musculoskeletal conditions in various studies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the short- and medium-term effects of intra-articular ozone injection on pain, functional status, and activities of daily living in patients with knee osteoarthritis.
METHODS: Data were obtained retrospectively from the medical records of patients diagnosed with KOA between January 1, 2019, and September 1, 2019. Patients who received intra-articular ozone injections (n=27) according to a routine protocol (two sessions per week for a total of four sessions, with doses of 25–20–10–10 gamma, respectively) were included. Evaluations were recorded at baseline, at the second week post-treatment (PT), and at 1 month and 3 months PT using the VAS, WOMAC, Lequesne Knee Index, and Nottingham Health Profile.
RESULTS: The mean age of the patients (n=27) was 64.81±11.41 years (range: 44–82). Of the patients, 85.2% (n=23) were female and 14.8% (n=4) were male. All parameters showed significant improvement at 2 weeks PT compared with baseline, and the observed improvement persisted at the 1st and 3rd month PT evaluations (p<0.05). No significant differences were found between the second week, 1st month, and 3rd month evaluations (p>0.05).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Intra-articular ozone injection in patients with knee osteoarthritis may have positive effects on pain, functional status, and activities of daily living in the short and medium term. Larger-scale controlled clinical trials with longer follow-up periods are needed.

Keywords: Injection, knee osteoarthritis, ozone.