Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Pulsed electromagnetic field attracts much attention due to its less trauma, infection, side effect, and simple application to promote bone fracture healing.
OBJECTIVE: To review the effect of pulsed electromagnetic fields on bone fracture healing by mechanism, animal experiments, and clinical application so as to provide theoretical evidences for promoting bone fracture healing.
METHODS: This study was retrieved by the first author with the key words of “PEMF and fracture” in both English (1989-2009) and Chinese (1981-2009) from Pubmed database (http://www.ncbi.nlm.gov/Pubmed) and Vip database (www.cqvip.com). Articles which were related with the effect of pulsed electromagnetic fields or electromagnetic field on bone fracture healing were included. The duplicated articles were excluded. The retrieval articles included reviews, animal experiments, and clinical experiments. Among 62 articles, 32 were in English and 30 in Chinese. Following the primary retrieval, 9 articles were excluded due to unrelated researching aim, 6 due to duplication, and 7 due to reviews. A total of 40 articles, 16 in Chinese and 24 in English, were included in the final analysis, including animal and cytological experiments (n=31), and clinical studies (n=9). 
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Pulsed electromagnetic field characterized by security, environmental protection, non-trauma, non-infection, sample processing, wide applicability, and less complications for treating bone fracture healing. Clinical experiments and clinical application have proved that pulsed electromagnetic field was an effective method to promote bone fracture healing, characterizing by low frequency and intensity. The mechanism of pulsed electromagnetic field for promoting bone fracture healing involved in physics and medicine. With the research of electromagnetism, organic complexity, and ethics, the parameters of pulsed electromagnetic field need to be further studied.