A Randomised Placebo-Controlled Trial to Assess the Efficacy of Osteoarthritic nosode in the Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis

Abstract

Abstract Background Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common musculoskeletal disease that affects the ability for sitting on the chair, standing, walking and climbing stairs and various other daily living activities of an affected individual. Objective The primary objective of the study was to assess the efficacy of Osteoarthritic nosode in the treatment of knee OA on the symptomatic and functional domains in comparison to control group with knee-specific exercises as co-intervention in both the groups. Materials and Methods It was a single blind randomised controlled trial study conducted at the out/inpatient department of Dr Madan Pratap Khunteta Homoeopathic Medical College, Hospital & Research Centre and Dr Girendra Pal Homoeopathic Hospital, Homoeopathy University, Saipura, Sanganer, Jaipur for a period of 1 year where cases were registered for first 9 months so that minimum of 3 months follow-up can be obtained during the course of the study. Total 50 patients who were radiographically diagnosed to be suffering from knee OA excluding Grade 4 of knee OA were allocated equally and randomly into two treatment groups. The patients in Group A received placebo and physiotherapy and patients in Group B received Osteoarthritic nosode and physiotherapy. The changes in patients' symptomatic and functional domain were evaluated by Knee Outcome Survey-Activity of Daily Living Scale (KOS- ADLS) questionnaire score assessed at the baseline and after 3 months (six follow-ups at 15 days interval) of treatment. Results Out of 50 patients enrolled, 45 patients completed the trial. Those patients who had completed 3 months of follow-up, that is, 6 follow-ups at 15 days interval, were included in the study. The results showed that the patients with knee OA in Group B had significant improvement in both symptomatic and functional domains after treatment when compared with their initial status and when compared with Group A. Group A (placebo and physiotherapy) showed non-significant to no improvement in 72% of cases and 16% were aggravated when assessed on the symptomatic and functional domains. Group B (OA nosode and physiotherapy) showed mild to marked improvement in 80% of cases, whereas 12% showed non-significant to no improvement when assessed on the symptomatic and functional domains. Conclusion Osteoarthritic nosode with physiotherapy is significantly effective than placebo with physiotherapy in the management of cases of knee OA.