Efficacy of Spa Therapy, Mud-Pack Therapy, Balneotherapy, and Mud-Bath Therapy in the Management of Knee Osteoarthritis. A Systematic Review

Abstract

Background Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common musculoskeletal disease in the world. OA is the result of an inflammatory and degenerative process affecting the entire joint. Osteoarthritis, especially involving the knee, has a relevant socioeconomic impact in terms of drugs, hospital admissions, work absences, and temporary or permanent invalidity. Therapy of knee osteoarthritis is based on pharmacological and nonpharmacological measures. Methods We conducted a systematic review of the studies published between 2002 and 2017 on spa therapy, mud-pack therapy, balneotherapy, and mud-bath therapy in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis in order to investigate the evidence of the efficacy of such treatment on pain, functional limitation, drug use, and quality of life. Overall, 35 studies were examined among which 12 were selected and included in the review if they are trial comparative. We have been able to illustrate the main results obtained in the individual studies and to elaborate these results in order to allow as much a unitary presentation as possible and hence an overall judgment. Results Because the studies we reviewed differed markedly from one another in terms of the methods used, we were unable to conduct a quantitative analysis (meta-analysis) of pooled data from the 12 studies. For the purposes of the present review, we reevaluated the results of the different studies using the same statistical method, Student's t-test, which is used to compare the means of two frequency distributions. Among all the studies, the most relevant indexes used to measure effectiveness of spa therapy were improved including VAS, Lequesne, and WOMAC Score. Conclusions The mud-pack therapy, balneotherapy, mud-bath therapy, and spa therapy have proved to be effective in the treatment and in the secondary prevention of knee osteoarthritis, by reducing pain, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug consumption, and functional limitation and improving quality of life of affected patients.

Effect of Peat Intervention on Pain and Gait in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Prospective, Double‐Blind, Randomized, Controlled Study

“…As mentioned in the results, we found that the group which received peat intervention had a greater decrease in VAS than the control group with statistical significance. Several studies using VAS as a measure of knee pain have demonstrated the effectiveness of pelotherapy for pain relief [19,[29][30][31][32]. In particular, several studies have confirmed that pain relief persists even after long-term follow-up of 6 months or longer [30,32].…”

“…Balneotherapy is a traditional treatment for musculoskeletal disorders in various countries, and many studies have reported its effects on pain in OA patients. Mud-pack therapy, mud-bath therapy, bath therapy, and spa therapy have proven to be effective in reducing pain and NSAID consumption and improving the quality of life in patients with knee OA [19].…”

Natural medicinal resources and their therapeutic applications

“…Balneotherapy has also been proved to have beneficial effects on patients with osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis is a degenerative musculoskeletal disease and leading cause of pain, disability, and impaired quality of life [4,10,11]. It affects synovial joints (mainly hips and knees), in which cartilage destruction, subchondral bone remodeling, osteophyte formation, and synovial inflammation are found, thereby leading to joint stiffness [11].…”

“…It affects synovial joints (mainly hips and knees), in which cartilage destruction, subchondral bone remodeling, osteophyte formation, and synovial inflammation are found, thereby leading to joint stiffness [11]. Osteoarthritis usually affects approximately 10% of people over 60 years of age [10]. Different clinical trials were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of balneotherapy in patients with osteoarthritis.…”

Toxicidad a dosis repetidas (28 días) por vía oral del agua termomineral de San Antonio de Putina, Puno

“…Estudios previos han encontrado resultados prometedores en enfermedades reumatológicas como artritis reumatoide [3] , lumbalgias [4] , fibromialgia [5] , y enfermedades dermatológicas como psoriasis o dermatitis atópica [6] . Asimismo, el tratamiento de diversas afecciones por medio del uso de aguas termales fue considerado por la Organización Mundial de la Salud, como un recurso a tener en cuenta en la mejora del bienestar y la calidad de vida de pacientes con enfermedades crónicas [7] .…”