Background: Osteoarthritis is a syndrome characterized by joint pain and reduced performance and efficien- cy in patient. Thymus daenensis has been used since old times for the treatment of bone and joint deformities and pain in traditional medicine. Purpose: This study was conducted to examine traditional usages and pharmacological features of T. daen- ensis with respect to the effect of the plant in patients with osteoarthritis. Methods: 120 patients with osteoarthritis were divided into 3 groups. Patients in each group were treated by 5% Thymus daenensis gel, 1% diclofenac gel, or placebo for 6 weeks, along with oral celecoxib capsules. Patients were assessed in different intervals, based on the VAS score for assessment of pain in the joint and different dimensions of WOMAC questionnaire. Results: Pain level (P < 0.005), stiffness during the day (P < 0.05), morning stiffness (P < 0.05) and physi- cal performance (P < 0.05) were significantly different among the groups. Conclusions: Thymus daenensis gel improves the symptoms in patients equal and without significant difference than diclofenac group. It can be argued that its use can produce a satisfactory effect on patients with osteoarthritis due to its low cost, easy access, the plant’s natively occurring in Iran.

Palindromic rheumatism (PR) is an intermittent disease characterised by recurrent and self-resolving attacks of inflammation in the articular and peri-articular tissues. Attacks usually are monoarticular and last from a few hours to a few days. 1 During attacks, patients are asymptomatic. 1 Attacks mostly involve the knees, wrists, metacarpophalangeal joints and proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joints. 1 Finding autoantibodies associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in a large percentage of patients with PR is an interesting feature of this disease. 2,3 In most reports, the frequency of positive rheumatoid factor (RF) and anticyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) in patients with PR is similar to RA. 2,3 Two recent studies reported two other autoantibodies, antimutated citrullinated vimentin (anti-MCV) in 70% and anticarbamylated protein/peptide antibodies (anti-CarP) in 24% of PR patients. 4,5 PR is an important disease despite the little attention paid to it. Firstly, PR is a relatively common disease. Pasero and Barbieri reported that the frequency of PR was 5% of RA. 6 Powel et al reported more prevalence of PR and concluded that for each of the