Mud bath therapy is an effective mid-term complementary therapy in the management of knee osteoarthritis, according to a study in Arthritis Care & Research.
In the study, researchers randomly assigned 103 patients to receive either a two-week cycle of mud bath therapy in addition to their usual treatment or to continue routine treatment alone. Researchers administered the European Quality-of-Life Questionnaire-5 Dimensions questionnaire at baseline, two weeks as well as three, six, nine and 12 months.
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The study found that overall, patients in the mud bath therapy group accrued, on average, 0.835 quality adjusted life years compared to 0.753 in the control group. Average direct costs per patient was $329.75 in the mud bath therapy group as compared to $1061.09 in the control group, primarily due to hospitalization for total knee replacement and use of intra-articular hyaluronic acid.
Researchers found that the probability of mud bath therapy being cost-effective at standard cost-effectiveness thresholds is 100 percent.