Clinical Disease Activity and Power Doppler Changes Observed During a Multimodal Rehabilitation Program in Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Retrospective Longitudinal Observational Study

Background/Objectives: Rehabilitation in active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) remains challenging, particularly regarding the dosing of physical agent modalities during inflammatory activity. We evaluated changes in clinical disease activity, inflammatory markers, and Power Doppler (PD) activity in patients with RA undergoing individualized multimodal rehabilitation.

Methods

In this retrospective longitudinal study, 29 patients with RA were assessed at baseline and after 8 weeks. The program comprised 10 supervised sessions of individualized electrotherapy and therapeutic exercise over 2 weeks, followed by 6 weeks of home-based exercise. Background disease-modifying antirheumatic therapy was unchanged; 16 patients received ESR-guided methylprednisolone. Outcomes included DAS28-ESR and its components, C-reactive protein (CRP), and patient-level PD grade across a standardized joint set.