Scholarly record

IMPACT OF NATURAL FACTORS IN THE TREATMENT OF DEGENERATIVE RHEUMATIC DISEASES

Elena Valentina Ionescu, Carmen Oprea, Liliana Elena Stanciu, Sibel Demirgian, Cerasela Handolescu, Gabriela Lilios

Abstract

Age, obesity, sex and previous injuries are considered to be significant risk factors for osteoarthritis. Mud is a therapeutic agent used since ancient times to treat osteoarthritis. Although extensively used, the mechanisms by which balneal therapy acts are poorly studied, sometimes we can even say that they are "full of surprises". The complexity of its biochemical composition, the rich microbial flora, the inter-relationships between its components, slow down the detection of the physiological and therapeutic effects and mechanisms by which they are produced. The aim of this paper consists in the complex evaluation of clinical effects of peloidotherapy in patients with knee osteoarthritis, in order to bring knew arguments referring to the treatment of this disease. In our prospective randomized clinical study, we included 55 patients, diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis divided in 2 batches. Regarding the clinical parameters evaluated (VAS Score, Lequesne Index and WOMAC Index) a statistically significant decrease in both groups analyzed was found (p 20 ? C, considered contrasting therapy). At admission and after 10 days of balneal treatment, patients were assessed clinically (VAS, Lequesne index, WOMAC index). For statistical analysis we used SPSS 18. Both the warm mud bath and the cold mud ointment modifies clinical parameters of degenerative rheumatic diseases. The different thermal regime which mediates different neuro-vegetative answers, different answers of the pro-inflammatory citokines and stress proteins, doesn’t influence the good clinical response of the peloidotherapy.

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