Usefulness of polyherbal Unani formulations on Lequesne Algo-Functional Index of knee osteoarthritis: A pretest and posttest evaluation study

Abstract

Objectives:To evaluate the usefulness of a selected polyherbal Unani formulation on Lequesne Algo-Functional Index (AFI) of knee Osteoarthritis (OA). Materials and Methods: Patients (n = 23) diagnosed with OA were recruited from the Nizamia General Hospital, Hyderabad to conduct a prospective, pre-and post-evaluation study. A combination of Unani herbs was given internally twice daily i.e., 3 g powder of Asgandh (1 g), Gule baboona (2 g), Bozidan (1 g), and Suranjan shireen (2 g). Topically, the paste of powdered Suranjan talkh (7 g) along with Roghane baboona (20 ml) was applied over the affected knee-joint, one-hour-twice for 40 days. The main outcome measure was to observe significant reduction in modified Lequesne AFI for knee OA after using the Unani formulations. Results: The mean Lequesne AFI Score pre-and post-test was 9.9 (1.58) and 2.05 (2.06) respectively (P < 0.0001). The mean percentage reduction of Lequense AFI score was 79.29%. Conclusion: The present study, demonstrates that the Unani herbal approach selected for this study are effective in ameliorating the severity of pain and improving knee function in patients suffering with knee OA.