Efficacy of spa-therapy in the management of knee osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common musculoskeletal disease worldwide. OA, and especially knee osteoarthritis, is a condition of high socio-economic impact in terms of drug spending, hospital admissions, work absences and temporary or permanent invalidity. The aim of this research is to evaluate literature on the efficacy of SPA-therapy (mud-pack therapy and/or bath therapy) in the management of knee osteoarthritis. We conducted a systematic review of the literature on SPA-therapy in the treatment of knee. A total of 1044 patients were enrolled in the aforementioned studies, of which 582 belonged to experimental groups while 462 belonged to control groups. The main methods used for clinical assessment were: VAS, WOMAC, Lequesne’s Index, MCII, AIMS and SF-36. Statistical analysis was performed using common tests. In particular, due to the effect of spa-therapy in the patients participating in the research, the score of VAS, Lequesne's Index, and the three different WOMAC indices were respectively decreased compared to the initial value with a statistically significant difference.The research confirms that by spa therapy is possible to obtain good results for pain, articular function and quality of life with reduction of disabling consequences in affected patients.