TABLE 6.

Summary of studies evaluating pulsed electromagnetic field therapy (PEMT) for acute whiplash-associated disorder (WAD)

Reference, year, country, score	Population and methods	Outcome measures	Results
Thiule and Walzl (32), 2002, Austria, PEDro score = 4	Randomized controlled trial. 92 patients with WAD of undefined duration were randomly assigned to receive NSAIDs, a muscle relaxant and PEMT (increasing intensity twice daily for two weeks), or medication only	Mean pain intensity in three areas (neck, head, shoulder and arm; rated on a scale of 1–10) and cervical ROM (flexion/extension, rotation and slope) were assessed at baseline and after treatment	Patients who received PEMT experienced a significantly greater reduction in mean pain (with a mean decrease across all three regions of 2.8 versus 0.7, P<0.05) and significantly more improvement in cervical ROM (with a mean increase across all three regions of 21.7° versus 15.83°, P<0.05)
Foley-Nolan et al (31), 1992, Ireland, PEDro score = 8	Randomized controlled trial. 40 patients with acute WAD were prescribed analgesics and NSAIDs and instructed to wear a collar for 8 h/day for 12 weeks, removing the collar periodically to perform neck exercises. Treatment group patients received PEMT via a diathermy generator incorporated into the collar. The control group wore facsimile collars. Patients in either group who were dissatisfied with their progress at 4 weeks were referred to a physiotherapy program	Pain intensity (VAS), analgesic consumption, cervical ROM (graded as full, two-thirds normal, one-third normal or absent) and subjective assessment of improvement were assessed at baseline and over the course of treatment at 2, 4 and 12 weeks	Compared with the control group, the PEMT group had less pain at 2 (3.8 versus 6.0) and 4 (2.5 versus 5.0) weeks (P<0.05) (but not at 12 weeks) and greater cervical ROM at 12 weeks (4.5 versus 4.0, P<0.05), which was a reversal from baseline. The PEMT group also consumed fewer analgesics at 2, 4 and 12 weeks (P<0.05), and reported better subjective progress at 2 and 4 weeks (P<0.01)

NSAID Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug; PEDro Physiotherapy Evidence Database; ROM Range of motion; VAS Visual analogue scale