Role of Bicarbonate-Sulphate-Alkaline-Earthy Mineral Water, Bentonite Clay Mud and Manual Somatic Stimulation in the Treatment of Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a joint chronic pathology, characterized by pain, functional limitation and swelling. It can be seriously disabling, so identifying effective therapies is fundamental for its management. A suitable therapeutic approach to OA might be thermal medicine, which exploits the benefi...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Romanian Association of Balneology, Editura Balneara
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Balneo and PRM Research Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://bioclima.ro/Balneo779.pdf |
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| Summary: | Osteoarthritis (OA) is a joint chronic pathology, characterized by pain, functional limitation and swelling. It can be seriously disabling, so identifying effective therapies is fundamental for its management. A suitable therapeutic approach to OA might be thermal medicine, which exploits the beneficial properties of thermal waters, thermal mud and support techniques like manual therapy; We conducted a pilot retrospective observational study analyzing the data of 87 OA patients (mean age 66 years) who underwent 12 sessions in 2 weeks of an Intensive Thermal Care (ITC) protocol, based on ingestion and inhalation of bicarbonate-sulphate-alkaline-earthy mineral water, local contact application of bentonite clay mud, manual treatment of Key Myofascial Trigger Points performed during inhalations and dedicated hydrokinesitherapy. Patients were assessed before (T0) and after (T1) the protocol through the Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS) for monitoring pain and through the Postural Biometric Index (PBI) for the evaluation of postural-biomechanical dysfunction; At T1 patients treated showed significant reductions in NPRS and PBI scores; ITC treatment is correlated with improvements in pain and postural-biomechanical dysfunction in OA. Due to the absence of a control group and uneven sampling, further studies possibly with an experimental setting, are needed to confirm or disprove our encouraging findings. |
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| ISSN: | 2734-8458 |