Balneotherapy for osteoarthritis: a systematic review

Abstract

This systematic review is aimed to evaluate the effects of balneotherapy with thermal mineral water for managing the symptoms and signs of osteoarthritis located at any anatomical site. The systematic review was conducted according to the PRISMA Statement. The following databases were consulted: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, DOAJ and PEDro. We included clinical trials evaluating the effects of balneotherapy as a treatment for patients with osteoarthritis, published in English and Italian language, led on human subjects. The protocol was registered in PROSPERO. Overall, 17 studies have been included in the review. All of these studies were performed on adults or elderly patients suffering from osteoarthritis localized to knees, hips, hands or lumbar spine. The treatment assessed was always the balneotherapy with thermal mineral water. The outcomes evaluated were pain, palpation/pressure sensibility, articular tenderness, functional ability, quality of life, mobility, deambulation, ability to climb stairs, medical objective and patients’ subjective evaluation, superoxide dismutase enzyme activity, serum levels of interleukin-2 receptors. The results of all the included studies agree and demonstrated an improvement of all the symptoms and signs investigated. In particular, pain and quality of life were the main symptoms evaluated and both improved after the treatment with thermal water in all the studies included in the review. These effects can be attributed to physical and chemical-physical properties of thermal mineral water used. However, the quality of many studies resulted not so high due and, consequently, it is necessary to perform new clinical trial in this field using more correct methods for conducting the study and for processing statistical data.

The Potential Role of Spa Therapy in Managing Frailty in Rheumatic Patients: A Scoping Review

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“…Notably, pain and quality of life were the primary symptoms assessed, and both demonstrated improvement following treatment with thermal mineral-rich water in all the included studies. Nevertheless, it is important to note that the quality of several studies was deemed suboptimal, highlighting the need for further clinical trials in this field [ 103 ].…”

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Electrophilic Compounds in the Human Diet and Their Role in the Induction of the Transcription Factor NRF2

“…One study found that people with osteoarthritis experienced a significant reduction in pain and stiffness and improved function when they underwent balneotherapy and pelotherapy and consumed water compared with untreated patients [ 185 ]. Another study showed that patients with knee osteoarthritis who drank sulfur-containing water for four weeks experienced a significant decrease in pain and an improvement in function compared with those who drank tap water [ 186 ].…”