A Comparison of Kneipp Hydrotherapy With Conventional Physiotherapy in the Treatment of Osteoarthritis of the Hip or Knee: Protocol of a Prospective Randomised Controlled Clinical Trial

The study design consists of a prospective randomised controlled three-armed clinical trial, which will be carried out at a specialist clinic for integrative medicine, to investigate the clinical effects of hydrotherapy on osteoarthritis of the knee or hip joint, in comparison with conventional physiotherapy.

The main aim of this three-armed clinical study will be to determine the effects of hydrotherapy with alternate cold and warm affusions of the thigh in the concomitant treatment of osteoarthritis of the hip or knee. The main outcome measures are pain reduction, improvement in the quality of life, and increased movement in the affected joint.

Research questions

1. Does Kneipp hydrotherapy show a measurable effect in the sense of altered clinical findings in the affected knee or hip joint?
2. How effectively does hydrotherapy influence the clinical parameters of pain, range of movement, and function of the affected joint?
3. How effectively does hydrotherapy affect the secondary outcome measures of quality of life, pain experienced, mood, and blood pressure?
4. Do hydrotherapeutic applications simply provide short-term therapeutic success or are there long-term changes in the clinical findings?
5. Are the clinical effects of hydrotherapy comparable with those of conventional physiotherapy of the affected joint?
6. Are the clinical effects of hydrotherapy used as monotherapy comparable with a combination of hydrotherapy and physiotherapy of the affected joint?
7. Do unwanted effects or side effects occur with hydrotherapy?

This study was designed as a prospective randomised controlled clinical trial with three arms, which is to be carried out at a German clinic specialised in integrative medicine, to investigate the clinical effects of hydrotherapy on osteoarthritis of the knee or hip, as compared with conventional physiotherapy.

To achieve maximum scientific accuracy with respect to randomisation, random distribution, avoidance of selection bias, etc., the independent Department of General Medicine and Primary Care of the University of Leipzig Medical School will function as an external evaluation and testing centre.

The design and concept of this study, as well as its ethical validity, were reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of the Bavarian State Chamber of Physicians \[Ethikkommission der Bayerischen Landesärztekammer\], (Study Number 08032, dated 04.05.2008).

One hundred and eighty patients diagnosed with osteoarthritis of hip or knee will be randomly assigned to one of three intervention groups: hydrotherapy, physiotherapy, and both physiotherapy and hydrotherapy of the affected joint. In the first group, patients will receive Kneipp hydrotherapy daily, with water applied in the form of alternate cold and warm thigh affusions (alternating cold and warm water stimulation is particularly relevant to the knee and hip regions).

Patients in the second group will receive physiotherapy of the hip or knee joint three times a week. Patients in the physiotherapy-hydrotherapy combination group will receive both joint-specific physiotherapy three times a week and alternate cold and warm thigh affusions every day.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

* Age \> 18 years
* Symptomatic osteoarthritis of hip or knee (following the revised criteria of the American College of Rheumatology)
* Willingness to comply with follow-up assessments and treatment
* Ability to understand, read and speak German

Exclusion Criteria:

* Endoprothetic replacement of hip or knee joint
* Inflammatory arthropathy of the hip or the knee
* Acute, hot, red and swollen knee or hip joint (unknown focus)
* Inflammatory system diseases which could interfere with the evaluation of the therapy procedure
* CNS diseases, especially epilepsy
* Anamnesis of deep vein thrombosis in the past 12 months
* Severe lung disease such as e.g. COPD stages GOLD III - GOLD IV
* Heart failure NYHA III - NYHA IV
* Myocardial ischemia with or without intervention within the last 3 months before inpatient admission
* Cancer in advanced stage
* Large skin wounds or inflammatory and ulcerated dermatosis of the legs
* Severe febrile infectious diseases
* Non treated hypertension
* Participation in another clinical study within the past four weeks
* Pregnancy