Balneological outpatient treatment for patients with knee osteoarthritis; an effective non-drug therapy option in daily routine?

Abstract

This study aims to compare the effects of balneological treatments applied at consecutive and intermittent sessions without interfering with their daily routine in patients with knee osteoarthritis. This is a randomized, controlled, single-blind clinical trial. Fifty patients diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis were included. The patients were divided into two groups. All patients were given a total of ten sessions of balneological treatment consisting of hydrotherapy and mud pack therapy. Group 1 received consecutive treatment for 2 weeks, while group 2 received intermittent treatment for 5 weeks. Local peloid packs at 45 °C were applied for 20 min, after a tap water (38 °C) bath. Evaluations were conducted before, after treatment, and at 12th week of post-treatment by Pain (VAS), Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), and Short Form-36 (SF-36). Both balneological treatment regimens of knee osteoarthritis had statistically significant clinical effects as well as effects on the quality of life. Patients' well-being continued at 3 months, except for joint stiffness (WOMAC), role-emotional (SF-36), and vitality (SF-36) in group 1 and for mental health (SF-36) in both groups. Both patient groups had improved compared to baseline. However, at 3 months after the treatment, the well-being of group 2 was unable to be maintained in terms of role-physical (SF-36) parameter, while the well-being of group 1 was unable to be maintained in terms of pain, WOMAC (pain, physical functions, total), and SF-36 (physical functioning, role-physical, pain, role-emotional, and mental health) variables, compared to data obtained immediately after treatment. Our study suggests that traditional and intermittent balneological therapies have similar efficacy in patients with knee osteoarthritis.

Fi̇zi̇k Tedavi̇ Uygulanan Kroni̇k Bel Ağrili Yaşlilarda Balneoterapi̇ni̇n Tedavi̇ye Etki̇si̇: Pi̇lot Çalişma

“…Spa treatments have been used in musculoskeletal diseases for centuries. It has been shown that BT is effective on many problems such as pain, physical dysfunction, and (18,19). In recent studies, it has been reported that BT is effective in the treatment of CLBP (20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26).…”

Publication Rate of Specialization in Medicine Theses in Medical Ecology and Hydroclimatology in Turkey: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Hence, overall, 7 (29.17%) out of 24 theses resulted in publication as a fulltext article in a peer-reviewed journal. Because two articles were derived from one of these 7 theses, a total of 8 publications were identified (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25). Six of them (18,20,(22)(23)(24)(25) were written in English, and one thesis each was written in German (19) and Turkish (21).…”

“…The articles were published in 6 different journals, the most popular of which were the International Journal of Biometeorology and Physikalische Medizin Rehabilitationsmedizin Kurortmedizin, with 2 articles for each. Six articles (18,19,(22)(23)(24)(25) were published in the journals indexed in SCI-E and 4 articles (22)(23)(24)(25) were published in the journals indexed in the Medline. The mean time to online publication was 3.00 ± 1.83 years and the mean impact factor of publishing journals was 1.43 ± 0.91, in the articles published in SCI-E journals.…”

Comparison of seaweed pack and mudpack as treatment for knee osteoarthritis: a prospective randomized controlled study

“…Thalassotherapy is an alternative modality that uses seawater, mud, sand, seaweed, and the sea environment for treatment. Several studies have suggested that thalassotherapy has a beneficial effect on knee OA patients [8][9][10][11]. In particular, studies have focused on mud therapy.…”