Faculty of Physical Education and Physiotherapy Department of Human Biometry and Biomechanics the Skin as a Barrier in Physiotherapy

This systematic review and meta-analysis is focusing on the evidences related to iontophoresis used to enhancethe topical drug delivery through the skin in the treatment of inflammatory dysfunctions, acute soft tissue injuries andpain. A literature search in the databases, MEDLINE (PubMed), Pedro, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Re-views was conducted. The methodological quality of the obtained studies was independently rated by two reviewers. Datawere pooled from those studies in which the effect of iontophoresis treatment on pain was compared with a control orsham (placebo) intervention. Twenty four experimental studies evaluating the effectiveness of iontophoretic treatmentwere included. Based on comparable statistical outcome for pain, the results of ten studies could be pooled for meta-analysis. Although several clinical studies claimed an advanced healing process after iontophoresis, controversy on thehealing efficacy of iontophoresis remains. The overall summary estimate of the pooled post treatment values for pain was-0.672 [95%CI: -0.970 to -0.375] favouring iontophoresis treatment (p < 0.0001). The observed trend between studies het-erogeneity for the post treatment pain values was low to moderate (I2= 39.9%; p = 0.092). The results of the meta-analysis indicate quantitative evidence that iontophoresis is effective in the treatment of pain, however, the lack of solidresearch design in studies on iontophoresis makes it difficult to ensure that the improvements observed can be explainedby the iontophoresis technique in se.