Title: Can Mechanoreceptors Stimulation Ease Pain -A Neuroanatomical Approach

Authors: Dr K.Nirmal Kumar, Dr U.K. Gupta, Dr Vinay Kumar Singh

 DOI:  https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v6i7.103

Abstract

There are many theoretical concepts in Neuroanatomy, of those how stimulation of mechanoreceptors can ease pain in humans, still needs to be explored. So the aim of this study was to find out the acute effectiveness of mechanoreceptors in patients of osteoarthritis knee joint, where pain is the primary concern. Aprospective study was conducted at National Institute of Medical Science and Research, Jaipur on 150 patients of which, Group A (n=50) was control group, Group B (n=50) and Group C (n=50) were experimental groups. All the 3 groups underwent pain measuring tool- Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS), Range of motion (ROM) measuring tool -Universal Goniometer and Functional activity measuring tool -Short form Western Ontario and Mc Master Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) pre and post treatment. All the three groups received Moist hot pack (MHP)for 5 minutes. Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) for 3 minutes and Passive Joint Mobilization (PJM) for 10 minutes were given to Group B and C respectively. Results were recorded in Excel sheet and Paired T- Test was used to evaluate the statistical significance between these groups.Both Group B and C was statistically significant in comparison to the group A, who only received MHP. On comparing Group B and C, Group C patients shown statistically better improvement in OA knee symptoms. Thus the stimulation of mechanoreceptors masked the OA knee pain through gating theory and the same was proved cost effectively.

Keywords: Mechanoreceptors, Proprioceptors, Receptors, PNF, PJM, OA.

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Corresponding Author

Dr K.Nirmal Kumar

Research Scholar, Corresponding author, Department of Anatomy, National Institute of Medical Science and Research, NIMS, University,  Jaipur, Rajasthan 303121& 8209206048