Trial reportClinical rheumatology2015
The effect of balneotherapy on chronic shoulder pain. A randomized, controlled, single-blind follow-up trial. A pilot study.
Trial report in Clinical rheumatology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evidence-based balneotherapy in Hungary. Updated systematic review and meta-analysis of the Hungarian clinical trials.International journal of biometeorology · 2026Pooled it
- EQ-5D studies in musculoskeletal and connective tissue diseases in eight Central and Eastern European countries: a systematic literature review and meta-analysis.Rheumatology international · 2017Pooled it
- Does balneotherapy provide additive effects to physical therapy in patients with subacute supraspinatus tendinopathy? A randomized, controlled, single-blind study.International journal of biometeorology · 2021Trial
- Different Degree Centrality Changes in the Brain after Acupuncture on Contralateral or Ipsilateral Acupoint in Patients with Chronic Shoulder Pain: A Resting-State fMRI Study.Neural plasticity · 2020Trial
- The effectiveness of balneotherapy in chronic neck pain.Clinical rheumatology · 2016Trial
- Challenges of blinding in clinical balneology trials: a scoping review.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2025Article
- COVID-19-Related Discontinuation Impact on Patient-Reported Outcomes in Long-Term Thermal Therapy: A Single-Center Observational Study at Saturnia Thermal Springs.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Spa therapy and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal pathologies: a proposal for best practice in Italy.International journal of biometeorology · 2020Article
- Screening of the cervical spine in subacromial shoulder pain: A systematic review.Shoulder & elbow · 2019Review
- Investigation of Lake Hévíz Mineral Water Balneotherapy and Hévíz Mud Treatment in Murine Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis Models.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2018Article
- Real-life effectiveness of spa therapy in rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases: a retrospective study of 819 patients.International journal of biometeorology · 2017Article
- EQ-5D in Central and Eastern Europe: 2000-2015.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2016Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The effects of balneotherapy on chronic shoulder pain were studied. In this single-blind, randomized, follow-up study involving 46 patients with chronic shoulder pain, one group of patients received physiotherapy--exercise and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation--and the other group received balneotherapy in addition to physiotherapy for 4 weeks on 15 occasions. The following parameters were recorded before treatment (at week 0) and after treatment (at weeks 4, 7, and 13): Shoulder Pain and Disability Index (SPADI), the Short Form (36) Health Survey (SF-36) and EuroQuol-5D (EQ-5D) quality of life questionnaires, pain at rest and on movement on the visual analog scale (VAS), and active and passive range of motion. The SPADI pain, function, and total scores and the VAS scores at rest and on movement significantly improved in both groups after treatments. A greater improvement was observed in the balneotherapy group compared to the control group; regarding some parameters (VAS score on movement and SPADI function score at visit 2; VAS score at rest at visits 3 and 4), the difference between the groups was significant. The improvement of SF-36 and EQ-5D quality of life scores and the active range of motion was more pronounced in the balneotherapy group, the difference between the groups was not significant, except for EQ-5D at visit 2. Improvement of passive range of motion was not significant. Balneotherapy may have a beneficial effect on the clinical parameters and quality of life of patients with chronic shoulder pain. The number of patients should be increased.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.