CORRELATION BETWEEN ULTRASONOGRAPHY AND ELECTRICAL PERMEABLE REACTIVE POINTS IN PATIENTS WITH SYMPTOMS OF PAIN IN THE UPPER LIMBS.

Introduction: The painful syndromes of the upper limbs are quite frequent in workers exposed to repetitive activities. Electrical permeable reactive points (EPRPs) are detectable on the intact skin tissue, and when present, are suggestive of inflammatory reactions with outbreaks of pain. This study was designed to correlate ultrasound and electrical permeable reactive points in patients with symptoms of pain in the upper limbs. Materials and Methods: Fifty-one patients with symptoms of pain and seen in an outpatient clinic of a private institution from the city of Campina Grande (PB), Brazil, participated in this study. The EPRPs were mapped through the skin surface part with toposcopic of Lasermed ref. 4090 Carci; when they were detected, an audible sound and no interference was emitted by the device. Reports were also used for USG symptomatic of the region to correlate to the findings of EPRPs. Results: The most frequent occurrences were detected in the shoulders, with 62.7%; the rarest occurrences were found in the elbow, with 3.9% of the studied sample. The females presented a higher prevalence for symptoms of pain, corresponding to 56.9% of the sample. The Kappa correlation index for the variables of EPRPs and USG was 0.487. Discussion: It is concluded that the correlation between EPRPs and USG was moderate in the sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]