The Use of Cryotherapy in the Gout Pain Control: A Systematic Review

Background Gout traditional treatment consists of anti-inflammatory drugs, analgesics and other rheumatic controllers, however, the occurrence of drug interactions occurs with a certain degree of toxicity, requiring that other methods be used to relieve symptoms. An alternative treatment is cryotherapy due to its capacity for analgesia. Purpose The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review that addressed the literature with production on gouty arthritis and its treatment with cryotherapy. Study design Systematic review Methods This review was described according to the items requested by the PRISMA system. This is a systematic review of publications from the year 2000 to the year 2019 in the following white literature databases PubMed, LILACS, SciELO, Web of Science, Science Direct, Scopus, Cochrane, PEDro and in the gray literature a Google Scholar database. The electronic databases were consulted from November 2019. Results After searching the databases, reading and selection, two studies contemplated the methodological criteria of eligibility, being of the same authorship, both with more than ten years of publication, using similar methods of application of ice. Conclusions It was found that, despite the scarcity of studies that addressed the topic, the articles found show reasonable rigor methodological and homogeneous results, demonstrating that cryotherapy helps in reducing the pain of individuals with gout, however, there is little evidence to support this hypothesis.