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A study on the efficacy of treatment with mud packs and baths with Sillene mineral water (Chianciano Spa Italy) in patients suffering from knee osteoarthritis

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Abstract

Mud-bath therapy plays a primary role in the treatment and prevention of osteoarthritis that has been recognised since antiquity. Numerous studies have demonstrated its clinical benefits and its effects on inflammatory mediators (interleukins), the immune system, cenesthesic factors (endorphins), and the diencephalic–pituitary–adrenal axis. This study was conducted to assess the efficacy of mud-bath therapy with mineral water from the Sillene Spring at Italy’s Chianciano Spa in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee. Patients (n = 61) were divided into two groups. Group A underwent three cycles of mud-based spa therapy over a year’s time, whereas group B did not. Clinical conditions, visual analogue scale pain ratings, and Lequesne indexes of the two groups were compared. We also compared these same parameters in the patients of the two groups that were following the therapy with drugs and in the patients of the group A before and after spa treatment. The percentage of patients with no symptoms or mild symptoms was higher in group A than in group B. Within group A, this percentage was higher after treatment than before spa therapy. Even in the comparison between the patients of the two groups that were following the therapy with drug, the results was that in group A the percentage of patients with no symptoms or mild symptoms was higher than in group B. Statistical analyses based on various tests revealed that almost all these differences were highly significant. No adverse effects were observed in any of the patients in group A. In conclusion, the mud-bath therapy performed at Chianciano Spa with Sillene Spring water remarkably improved the clinical conditions of patients with knee arthritis and significantly reduces the frequency and severity of symptoms and the disability they cause.

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Notes

  1. For personal reasons, three of the patients in group A were unable to complete the second cycle of treatment scheduled 6 months after the first, but all three completed the third cycle, which began 1 year after the first. .

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Fondazione Terme Chianciano.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Clinica e Terapia Medica, UOC Medicina Interna E, Terapia Medica e Medicina Termale, Scuola di Specializzazione in Idrologia Medica, Sapienza Università di Roma, Azienda Policlinico Umberto I, V.le del Policlinico 155, 00161, Rome, Italy

    Antonio Fraioli, Gioacchino Mennuni, Luisa Petraccia, Mario Fontana & Marcello Grassi

  2. Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Rome, Italy

    Angelo Serio

  3. Dipartimento di Clinica e Terapia Medica, UOC Reumatologia, Scuola di Specializzazione in Reumatologia, Sapienza Università di Roma, Azienda Policlinico Umberto I, V.le del Policlinico 155, 00161, Rome, Italy

    Fulvia Ceccarelli & Guido Valesini

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  1. Antonio Fraioli
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  2. Angelo Serio
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  3. Gioacchino Mennuni
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  4. Fulvia Ceccarelli
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Correspondence to Antonio Fraioli.

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Fraioli, A., Serio, A., Mennuni, G. et al. A study on the efficacy of treatment with mud packs and baths with Sillene mineral water (Chianciano Spa Italy) in patients suffering from knee osteoarthritis. Rheumatol Int 31, 1333–1340 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-010-1475-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-010-1475-5

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