Comparison of the effects of phonophoresis and ultrasound therapy on recovery of experimental tenorrhaphy in rabbits

Tendon ruptures occur generally at distal portions of extremities and require relatively long recovery period. Traumatic ruptures of Achilles tendon need 6-8 weeks of immobility period including pre and postoperative days. In order to avoid other orthopedical problems by this application and to speed up the recovery period, postoperative local administrations are done. Therapeutic Ultrasound (TUS) is one of these applications. Phonophoresis is the local absorbing procedure of some drugs by means of TUS which is applied to the affected area. Forty male New Zealand rabbits were used in the study which were one year old and mean 3 kg body-weight. The rabbits were divided into 4 groups and experimental Achilles tendon rupture was created in both legs of all rabbits and repaired immediately by tenorrhaphy. The right legs of rabbits of groups 1 and 3 were treated postoperatively with TUS for 10 days. The right legs of rabbits in groups 2 and 4 were treated postoperatively with phonophoresis for 10 days. Left legs of all rabbits served as the control group. All rabbits were euthanized at the end of the 30th day. Samples which were taken from groups 1 and 2 were examined histopathologically and those in groups 3 and 4 were examined biomechanically. In biomechanical investigations, the rupture points of the tendons in N (Newton) were compared. At the end of the study, it was concluded that TUS is a superior for tendon healing when compared to phonophoresis.