A Novel Ayurvedic treatment - Arthrothermia® for Osteoarthritis

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to report promising data revealed by a novel Ayurvedic treatment; Arthothermia® for patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA). Method: We enrolled 30 patients with OA who received Arthothermia® treatment. The Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) was used to evaluate the treatment outcome. The five subscales of KOOS: Pain, Other Symptoms, Function in daily living (ADL), Function in Sport and Recreation (Sport/Rec), and knee-related Quality of Life (QOL) were scored separately. The KOOS data was calculated for the 30 patients before and after Arthothermia® treatment. Results: The KOOS before Arthothermia® ranged from 3.37 to 31.3. The KOOS was significantly improved after Arthothermia® and it ranged from 83.67 to 98.53. The difference in KOOS between before and after Arthothermia® treatment was calculated for the 30 patients as a group (unpaired t-test) as well as for each patient individually (paired t-test). The difference in KOOS was highly significant (p<0.0001) for both; unpaired and paired t-test analysis. Conclusion: The present study documented that the “Arthothermia®” – a unique Ayurveda treatment approach (combination of alkaline cautery and indirect micro thermal cautery) brought significant changes in KOOS in the OA patients in very short time duration. The promising data hold a ray of hope for better management of OA and needs wide explorations to bring magnificent outcome for patients suffering with OA.