Study on the effect of thermal cures for knee osteoarthritis

A. Fazaa et al.

September 2014

Healing & thermal therapy

Rheumatism / Joints / Arthritis / Arthrosis

The Tunis El Manar University in Tunisia compared the effect of a thermal cure with that of conventional rehabilitation therapy for knee osteoarthritis (KOA).

The sample of 233 subjects with KOA was randomly divided into two groups. The thermal group received underwater showers, massages using jet showers, hydromassages, pool rehabilitation and peloid therapy. The control group received treatments from analgesic physiotherapy, muscle strengthening and physical therapy. Data was collected based on the visual analog scale (VAS) both on day 21 and twelve months after treatment.

At the time of measurement on the 21st day of therapy, no significant changes were observed. After twelve months, however, the thermal group showed significant improvements in the VAS (61.6 ± 15 at the beginning compared to 46.5 ± 22.4 after twelve months, p <0.001), which were not visible in the control group (64.1 ± 15 at the beginning compared to 62 ± 29 after 12 months, p = 0.68).

The most important information on the study at a glance

Indications: Osteoarthritis
Institution: Service de rhumatologie, hôpital MongiSlim, 2046 La Marsa, Tunisia; Faculté de médecine de Tunis, Tunis El Manar university, Tunis, Tunisia
Title: Study comparing thermal treatment and conventional therapy for knee osteoarthritis
Brief description: The study shows that a thermal treatment for knee osteoarthritis achieves significantly better long-term results than conventional therapy.
Original title: Comparison of the clinical effectiveness of thermal cure and rehabilitation in knee osteoarthritis. A randomized therapeutic trial
Link to the study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25447748/