effect of diclofenac gel phonophoresis on temporomandibular joint disorders: a prospective quasi-experimental study

Background: temporomandibular disorders (tmd) are a group of pathologies that affect the masticatory muscles, the temporomandibular joint, and related structures and affect more than 25% of the general population. objectives: this study aimed to demonstrate the effect of ultrasounds (us) plus diclofenac gel 10% (phonophoresis) as a physical therapy available for the management of tmd based on pain amelioration and function recovery. methods: prospective quasiexperimental onegroup beforeafter study. outcome measures consist: (1) pain measured by visual analog scale (vas); and (2) mouth opening by measuring lip to lip distance and interincisal distance in millimeters (mm); evaluated at the beginning/end of treatment. twenty sessions (1 session per day) of continuous ultrasound to intensity of 1 w/cm^2/1 mhz/5 minutes over the affected joint, with ultrasound gel (5 ml) and 10% diclofenac gel (5 ml) in a proportion of 1:1 as transducer medium. results: a total of 50 consecutive patients were analyzed. phonophoresis protocol was able to improve all outcome measures with a statistical difference. pain evaluated by vas was 6.67 ± 0.82 and decreased to 3.48 ± 0.8 points (p = 0.0000). mouth opening by mean of liptolip distance was 50 ± 8.23 mm that improved to 56 ± 6.2 mm (p = 0.0000) and by mean of interincisal distance was 37.9 ± 7.02 mm and increased to 44 ± 5.5 mm (p = 0.0000). conclusions: diclofenac phonophoresis is an effective physical therapy for the management of tmd, evaluated by pain improvement and function recovery.