[Physical therapy for vertebrogenic pain syndrome in patients with non-aggressive vertebral hemangioma].

The vertebral hemangioma (VH) and vertebrogenic pain syndromes of other etiologies are currently not a problem in terms of the choice of treatment method. However, the combination of these conditions makes the situation much more challenging. The question of the safety of physical treatment methods in these patients remains open, since there is no scientific evidence in this area.
Objective: To study the long-term results of electrotherapy, magnet therapy, lazer therapy, therapeutic exercises (TE), and therapeutic massage (in different combinations) in patients with degenerative-dystrophic processes of the spine and nonaggressive VH.
Material and Methods: The study included 104 patients (75 females, 29 males) with degenerative-dystrophic processes of the spine and non-aggressive VH. The time between the treatment course and follow-up examination was 12 months.
Results: VHs remained unchanged in 86.5% of patients. An increase in size was noted in 13.5%. In no case did the VH become aggressive. After the TE course, the rate of VH size increase was 10.8%. The combination of TE with massage and electrotherapy (including a combination of all methods) resulted in an increase in VH size in 17.9, 20.0, 23.8% of cases, respectively. When magnet therapy was used, an increase in VH size was recorded significantly less frequently ( p =0.021). No differences in the rate of VH size increase depending on sex, age (40-70 years), localization, and size were observed. In case of multiple VHs, the rate of growth was 23.1.
Conclusion: A limitation of the study was the relatively small number of patients, which could, in some cases, affect the correctness of statistical data. Nevertheless, there is a general trend of the effect of physical treatments on the course of non-aggressive VH in patients with vertebrogenic pain syndromes. Such patients may be recommended low-frequency low-intensity electro- and magnet therapy, therapeutic back massage, and TE.