Radiofrequency as an alternative to hip pain treatment

GENERAL INFORMATION

The hip joint is a frequent cause of chronic pain. Osteoarthritis is its main cause, affecting between 3.5 and 5.6 % of people over 50 years of age, and up to 10 % of those over 80 years of age. Its strategic position in the transmission of forces between the lumbar-pelvic area and the lower limbs and the fact that practically none of its movements are totally aligned with any muscle and require the coordinated participation of several, makes it a point of wear and tear, osteoarthritis and concurrence of pathologies that cause pain. The bones that compose it are the femur through the femoral head and pelvis through the acetabulum.

The treatment of hip pain by means of Radiofrequency (RF) seeks to modulate the sensory nerve transmission both the articular surfaces and the capsule and stabilizing ligaments, respecting the nerve transmission to the muscle and tendon structures.

Classically, the management of hip analgesia addressed nerves that could not be targeted by radiofrequency or intra-articular corticosteroid and hyaluronic acid infiltrations. Nowadays, however, sensory nerves, branches of the classical main nerves, are targeted and can be subjected to radiofrequency and intra-articular infiltrations as an alternative.

THERAPY

The most frequent indication is degenerative hip disease, with osteoarthritis as the main cause. Mostly in patients too young to undergo prosthesis placement, those who wish to wait or at the limits of age in cases where there is much risk associated with surgery.

Radiofrequency therapy is a proven low-risk option for managing chronic pain.

During the procedure, a high-frequency electric current is applied through a cannula or needle to the proximity of the nerve where the pain transmission is to be blocked. There are two modalities:

Thermal Radiofrequency which creates a heat lesion in the targeted nerve (neuro lysis), preventing the passage of painful nerve stimuli.
Pulsed radiofrequency that achieves, without nerve injury, modulate the passage of pain signals (neuro modulation). The pain treatment therapy interrupts the transmission of pain through the nerves that reach the brain. The application of radiofrequency is extensive. We can use it in cervical pain, lumbar pain, sciatica and pain in small and large joints (shoulder, knee, hip), rhizarthrosis, trochanteritis, plantar fasciitis, among other pathologies. The procedure is performed under local anesthesia and sedation, being an outpatient technique in most cases. The results are not definitive in all cases, but they are minimally invasive techniques that can be repeated.

The benefits of radiofrequency of the coxofemoral joint include: