Spa therapy induces clinical improvement and protein changes in patients with chronic back pain

Abstract

This study is primarily aimed at assessing serum changes on a large panel of proteins in patients with chronic back pain following spa therapy, as well as evaluating different spa therapy regimens as a preliminary exploratory clinical study. Sixty-six patients with chronic back pain secondary to osteoarthritis were randomly enrolled and treated with daily mud packs and bicarbonate-alkaline mineral water baths, or a thermal hydrotherapy rehabilitation scheme, the combination of the two regimens or usual medication only (control group), for two weeks. Clinical variables were evaluated at baseline, after 2 and 12 weeks. One thousand serum proteins were tested before and after a two-week mud bath therapy. All spa treatment groups showed clinical benefit as determined by improvements in VAS pain, Roland Morris disability questionnaire and neck disability index at both time points. The following serum proteins were found greatly increased (≥2.5 fold) after spa treatment: inhibin beta A subunit (INHBA), activin A receptor type 2B (ACVR2B), angiopoietin-1 (ANGPT1), beta-2-microglobulin (B2M), growth differentiation factor 10 (GDF10), C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 5 (CXCL5), fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2), fibroblast growth factor 12 (FGF12), oxidized low density lipoprotein receptor 1 (OLR1), matrix metallopeptidase 13 (MMP13). Three proteins were found greatly decreased (≤0.65 fold): apolipoprotein C-III (Apoc3), interleukin 23 alpha subunit p19 (IL23A) and syndecan-1 (SDC1). Spa therapy was confirmed as beneficial for chronic back pain and proved to induce changes in proteins involved in functions such as gene expression modulation, differentiation, angiogenesis, tissue repair, acute and chronic inflammatory response.

Effectiveness of peloid therapy in patients with chronic low back pain: a single-blind controlled study

“…A study assessing what changes were induced in serum proteins in patients with chronic back pain undergoing peloid therapy with balneotherapy showed angiopoietin 1, growth differentiation factor 10, fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF 2), FGF 12, and matrix metallopeptidase 13 levels increased, while apolipoprotein C-III, interleukin 23 alpha, and syndecan 1 levels reduced. Balneotherapy with peloid therapy was observed to cause changes in proteins included in functions like gene expression modulation, differentiation, angiogenesis, tissue repair, acute, and chronic inflammatory response (Angioni et al 2019). In our study, the better reduction in pain and improvements in functional status in the peloid therapy group compared to the control group may be linked to the physiologic and chemical mechanisms of action shown for peloid therapy.…”

Atuação da fisioterapia aquática em pacientes com lombalgia: uma revisão sistemática

“…De acordo com (Angioni, et al, 2019), as doenças da coluna vertebral e as lombalgias crônicas são as afecções musculoesqueléticas mais prevalentes que afetam, ao longo da vida, a grande maioria da população. A dor nas costas é considerada crônica quando dura mais de dois/três meses.…”

Deep Transcriptomic Analysis Reveals the Dynamic Developmental Progression during Early Development of Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus)

“…Its pathways are p70S6K signaling and activation of cAMP-dependent protein kinase A [29,30]. GDF10 is necessary for head formation, skeletal morphogenesis and adipogenesis [31][32][33].…”