ReviewInternational journal of biometeorology2021
The efficacy of balneotherapy, mud therapy and spa therapy in patients with osteoarthritis: an overview of reviews.
Review in International journal of biometeorology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05352477 (Double-blind Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial for Evaluating the Effects of Balneotherapy With Acquabios Thermal Water in Knee Osteoarthritis), which is not on this map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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.
Double-blind Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial for Evaluating the Effects of Balneotherapy With Acquabios Thermal Water in Knee Osteoarthritis
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Clinical efficacy of medical hydrology: an umbrella review.International journal of biometeorology · 2021Pooled it
- Effects on Physical Functioning and Fear of Falling of a 3-Week Balneotherapy Program Alone or Associated with a Physical Activity and Educational Program in Older Adult Fallers: A Randomized-Controlled Trial.Clinical interventions in aging · 2024Trial
- Efficacy of Cabbage Leaf versus Cooling Gel Pad or Diclofenac Gel for Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Randomized Open-Labeled Controlled Clinical Trial.Pain research & management · 2022Trial
- Balneotherapy and Manual Therapy of Key Myofascial Trigger Points as Therapeutic Integration for COPD Associated with Myofascial Pain Syndrome: A Case Series.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Intensive combined balneotherapy and aquatic exercise for knee osteoarthritis: short-term clinical and functional outcomes.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Relevance of balneotherapy for osteoarthritis-a systematic literature review covering the past 5 years.Wiener medizinische Wochenschrift (1946) · 2025Review
- Water-based interventions in rheumatic diseases: mechanisms, benefits, and clinical applications.Rheumatology international · 2024Review
- Developmental Psychology and Healthcare Professions: Autism Knowledge Among Nurses: An Observational Study.Clinics and practice · 2024Article
- Self-Perceived Competencies and Attitudes on Palliative Care in Undergraduate Nursing Students: A Multicenter Descriptive Study.Nursing reports (Pavia, Italy) · 2024Article
- The Usefulness of Virtual Reality in Symptom Management during Chemotherapy in Lung Cancer Patients: A Quasi-Experimental Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Etodolac utility in osteoarthritis: drug delivery challenges, topical nanotherapeutic strategies and potential synergies.Therapeutic delivery · 2024Review
- Circulating serotonin and dopamine concentrations in osteoarthritis patients: a pilot study on the effect of pelotherapy.International journal of biometeorology · 2024Article
- Marked Reduction of Oxidant Species after Sulfureous Crenotherapy in Females with Joint Diseases and Psoriasis: A Retrospective Real-Life Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- The Potential Role of Spa Therapy in Managing Frailty in Rheumatic Patients: A Scoping Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- The therapeutic effect of Värska mud and Värska mineral water baths on the overuse pain and muscle tension syndromes in the working age population.Environmental geochemistry and health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease considered a leading cause of functional disability. Its treatment is based on a combination of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions, but the role of these latter is still debated. This overview of systematic reviews aimed at evaluating the short-term efficacy of different thermal modalities in patients with osteoarthritis. We searched PubMed, Scopus, CINHAL, Web of Science, ProQuest and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews from inception until October 2020, with no language restrictions. We selected the following outcomes a priori: pain, stiffness and quality of life. Seventeen systematic reviews containing 27 unique relevant studies were included. The quality of the reviews ranged from low to critically low. Substantial variations in terms of interventions studied, comparison groups, population, outcomes and follow-up between the included SRs were found. From a re-analysis of primary data, emerged that balneotherapy was effective in reducing pain and improving stiffness and quality of life, mud therapy significantly reduced pain and stiffness, and spa therapy showed pain relief. However, the evidence supporting the efficacy of different thermal modalities could be seriously flawed due to methodological quality and sample size, to the presence of important treatment variations, and to the high level of heterogeneity and the absence of a double-blind design. There is some encouraging evidence that deserves clinicians' consideration, suggesting that thermal modalities are effective on a short-term basis for treating patients with AO.
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Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.