Study on spa therapy for chronic back pain

The study of the Università degli Studi di Cagliari, mainly aims to evaluate changes in serum proteins in patients with chronic back pain after spa therapy and to investigate different spa therapy approaches in a preliminary exploratory clinical trial.

Sixty-six patients with chronic back pain due to osteoarthritis were randomly selected and treated with daily therapeutic mud wraps and bicarbonate alkaline mineral water baths, a thermal hydrotherapy rehabilitation program, a combination of the two treatment approaches , or only the usual medication (control group) for two weeks. Clinical variables were assessed at baseline, after 2 and 12 weeks.

One thousand serum proteins were tested before and after two weeks of therapeutic mud therapy. All spa therapy groups showed clinical benefits as determined by improvements in VAS pain measures, the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire , and the Neck Disability Index at both time points.

Spa therapy was confirmed to be beneficial in chronic low back pain and was shown to induce changes in proteins involved in functions such as modulation of gene expression, differentiation, angiogenesis, tissue repair, and acute and chronic inflammatory response .