Posted on July 17, 2008 in Latest News
Mud could significantly help reduce pain in knee osteoarthritis patients according to a new study.
Mud bath therapy has been known to be a potential therapy in patients with osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis, fertility conditions, rheumatism (children and adults) and chronic encephalopathies. Mud bath therapy may possess anti-inflammatory effects, though further study is needed to confirm this.
Researchers from the Gulhane School of Medicine in Ankara, Turkey, probed into the efficacy of mud pack treatment in patients of knee osteoarthritis. They also examined the chemical factors in the mud that lead to the build up of these effects.
They assigned 60 patients to receive either a directly applied mud pack or a nylon-covered mud pack. In the mud group (directly applied mud), 30 patients had heated mud, up to 43 degrees Celsius, applied 15 times to both knees for 30 minutes. In the control group (nylon-covered mud), 30 had the same treatment as the study group except the heated mud was applied over an impermeable nylon pack.
The patients were evaluated prior to and following the intervention and followed up for 24 weeks at four-week intervals.
The study found that compared to baseline, a significant drop was observed in arthritis scores, disease severity index scores, pain intensity and pain reliever consumption in both groups after the intervention. Observed improvements in the study group were found to be superior to the control during the whole post-intervention follow-up, except for pain reliever consumption in the third week. A significant number of patients in the study group showed minimal clinically important improvement as compared to the control group.
The authors concluded that mud pack treatment significantly improved the pain and functional status of patients with knee osteoarthritis, whether applied directly or coated with nylon. Direct application was found to be superior, which implies chemical properties of the mud may contribute to the build up of the therapeutic effect.
» Filed Under Latest News
Comments
Leave a Reply
