This randomized controlled trial aimed to investigate the distinctness after treatment among hot herbal compress, hot compress, and topical diclofenac. The registrants were equally divided into groups and received the different treatments including hot herbal compress, hot compress, and topical diclofenac group, which served as the control group. After treatment courses, Visual Analog Scale and 36-Item Short Form Health survey were, respectively, used to establish the level of pain intensity and quality of life. In addition, cervical range of motion and pressure pain threshold were also examined to identify the motional effects. All treatments showed significantly decreased level of pain intensity and increased cervical range of motion, while the intervention groups exhibited extraordinary capability compared with the topical diclofenac group in pressure pain threshold and quality of life. In summary, hot herbal compress holds promise to be an efficacious treatment parallel to hot compress and topical diclofenac.

Myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) is a chronic pain disorder which causes musculoskeletal pain and inflammation in the body's soft tissues. Thai Traditional Medicine uses hot herbal compresses as analgesic and anti-inflammatory treatment. There are no scientifically validated follow-up studies after treatment using hot herbal compresses. Effects of hot herbal compresses as an alternative treatment for MPS in the upper trapezius muscle compared with the standard treatment (diclofenac) were examined. Sixty patients with myofascial pain syndrome in the upper trapezius muscle were randomly divided into two groups and assigned to receive either hot herbal compress or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (diclofenac) treatment for 2 weeks. Clinical assessments included visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain score, cervical range of motion (CROM) for the neck and pressure pain threshold (PPT) tolerability before and after treatment. Within the groups, all treatments caused significant improvement in VAS and marginally increased effectiveness in PPT; however, only hot herbal compress treatment improved CROM. Hot herbal compress was more effective than diclofenac in all tests. Results provided comparable clinical efficacy between hot herbal compress and diclofenac after 2 weeks of treatment. Hot herbal compress proved to be an effective complementary or alternative treatment for MPS in the upper trapezius muscle.

Polycaprolactone/cellulose acetate blended nanofiber mats containing sericin and fibroin were fabricated by electrospinning process to study the effect of sericin and fibroin on the physical and structural properties, wettability, degradability, elastic modulus, cell adhesion, and cell cytotoxicity of the electrospun nanofibers. Polycaprolactone/cellulose acetate solution was prepared with different percentage ratio of sericin and fibroin to be the running solution. Nanofibers were spun at fixed solution flow rate, flying distance, and operating voltage. The diameter of the obtained nanofibers linearly increases with the increasing of the sericin ratio. The derivative structures of polycaprolactone, cellulose acetate, sericin, and fibroin of the obtained nanofibers were confirmed by FTIR analysis. All acquired nanofibers show superhydrophilicity with adequate time of degradation for L-929 cell adhesion and growth. More elasticity is gained when the sericin ratio decreases. Moreover, all fibers containing sericin/fibroin reveal more elasticity, cell adhesion, and cell growth than that with only polycaprolactone/cellulose acetate. Greater cell adhesion and growth develop when the sericin ratio is lower. All the fabricated nanofibers are low toxic to the cells. Fibers with a mixture of sericin and fibroin at 2.5:2.5 (% w/v) are the most promising and suitable for further clinical development due to their good results in each examination. The novelty found in this study is not only making more value of the sericin, silk industrial waste, and the fibroin, but also getting the preferable biomaterials, scaffold prototype, with much greater mechanical property and slower degradation, which are required and appropriate for cell attachment and proliferation of cell generation process, compared to that obtaining from polycaprolactone/cellulose acetate or sericin/fibroin nanofibers.

Myofascial pain syndrome is a common problem that can develop at any age. This study compares the efficacy of the court-type traditional Thai massage (CTTM) to the Thai hermit exercise (THE) in improving the cervical range of motion (CROM) and reducing pain in the upper trapezius muscle. In this study, 46 patient subjects were randomized into 2 groups, with 1 group administered CTTM and the other administered THE. Prior to and following the experiment, their demographic characteristics, pain levels and CROM were measured using a visual analog scale (VAS) and a goniometer, respectively. Data was then analyzed using descriptive statistics, percentage, mean, and standard deviation, as well as inferential statistics. The findings indicate that subjects in both groups demonstrated significantly lower pain and significantly better CROM (P < 0.05). In terms of comparative treatment between the CTTM and THE groups, the results were not found to differ in the range of motion, but a clear difference in pain level measured by VAS was found, in which CTTM provides a better way of reducing pain at the trigger point than THE (P < 0.05). From the findings, it can be concluded that both CTTM and THE are comparably efficacious therapies for myofascial pain in the upper trapezius muscle.

Chronic constipation is the disturbances of intestinal motility which is a challenge in primary healthcare around the world. In this study, Court-type Thai traditional massage and Senokot, treatments were assessed and compared in terms of their efficacy in relieving constipation. Forty subjects diagnosed with constipation were recruited and randomized into the massage group and drug group. For 7 days, Thai traditional abdominal massage was provided regularly for the patients in the massage group, while the drug group was subjected to Senokot treatment only. The Bristol stool chart scale and demographics questionnaire were used as instruments. As a result, both court type Thai traditional massage and Senokot are effective in relieving constipation. However, although both treatment options can increase the frequency of defecations and the sensation of complete evacuation, the court type Thai traditional massage seems to be better since it leads to normal defecations rather than watery or entirely liquid defecations with no solid pieces ( p < 0.05). This randomized controlled trial suggested that Thai traditional abdominal massage can be used as an optional public health treatment for constipation.