In this randomized clinical trial, patients with hand osteoarthritis, recruited from the Leiden University Medical Center Rheumatology outpatient clinic, aged 18-80 and fulfilling hand pain criteria will be randomized to undergo trancutaneous pulsed radiofrequency therapy of the hand or a sham. The effect will be measured in change in 10 point numeric rating scale for pain in the hand over 6 weeks. This RCT will have little burdens and risk for the subjects. The proposed intervention, tPRF, is well tolerated, with no known serious side effects.
Different types of pain may be present in patients with hand osteoarthritis, including nociceptive pain and non-nociceptive pain. This makes adequate pain treatment difficult, and thus new treatment options are needed. To this end, this trial will evaluate the effect of transcutaneous pulsed radiofrequency for the treatment of hand osteoarthritis pain.