In conclusion , even though limitations must be considered , evidence shows that BT and spa therapy can significantly improve QoL of patients with knee OA .
Moreover , reduction of drug consumption and improvement of algofunctional indexes may be other beneficial effects .
Knee osteoarthritis ( OA ) is a degenerative disease which is expected to become one of the leading causes of disability by the next years .
This work aims to assess if balneotherapy and spa therapy can significantly improve Quality of Life ( QoL ) of patients with knee OA .
Prolonged effects of 3 week therapy in a spa resort on lumbar spine, knee and hip osteoarthritis: follow-up after 6 months. A randomized controlled trial.
Spa therapy is frequently used in daily rheumatological practice , but its benefit remains to be evaluated . A prospect i ve r and omized controlled study was conducted in 1993 in patients with osteoarthritis of the hip , knee or lumbar spine . Treatment was either  spa therapy at Vichy ( France ) of 3 weeks duration ( spa group ) or usual therapy ( control group ) . Assessment criteria were pain ( visual analogue scale ) , functional impairment ( Lequesne 's index for hip or knee disease , Main and Waddell 's for lumbar spinal diseases ) , quality of life index [ revised Arthritis Impact Measurement Scale ( AIMS 2 ) ] , and  analgesic and /or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug ( NSAID ) consumption .  Patients were included by r and omization into one of the two arms ( spa or control ) and assessment criteria were collected before spa therapy or the control period , and 3 and 24 weeks thereafter . A total of 188 patients ( lumbar spine 95 , knee 64 , hip 29 ) were included in the study ( spa group 91 , control group 97 ) . Changes in the assessment criteria after a 6 month follow-up period showed improvement in terms of pain , functional impairment and quality of life , with a reduced intake of symptomatic drugs ( NSAID and analgesic drugs ) in the spa group . This study suggests that spa therapy of 3 weeks duration has a prolonged , beneficial , symptomatic effect in osteoarthritis
In conclusion , even though limitations must be considered , evidence shows that BT and spa therapy can significantly improve QoL of patients with knee OA .
Moreover , reduction of drug consumption and improvement of algofunctional indexes may be other beneficial effects .
Knee osteoarthritis ( OA ) is a degenerative disease which is expected to become one of the leading causes of disability by the next years .
This work aims to assess if balneotherapy and spa therapy can significantly improve Quality of Life ( QoL ) of patients with knee OA .