Abstract
Methods Knee osteoarthritis patients with Visual Analog Scale (VAS) of 3 or more and Kellgren–Lawrence osteoarthritis grades 1 to 3 were included. Patients with history of intraarticular injection treatment were excluded. Forty-one participants were randomly allocated to the peat intervention group (n = 22) or the hot-pack-only control group (n = 19). Peat and hot pack were applied to both knees of each group of patients. Each intervention session lasted 20 minutes, and eight sessions were completed over five days. VAS, serum cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP), and gait parameters were evaluated before and after the whole interventions. Results VAS in the peat group decreased from 6.000 to 3.409 after intervention (p < 0.001) and also decreased in the control group from 5.737 to 4.421 (p < 0.001). VAS score reduction between two periods was greater in the peat group than that in the control group (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in the serum COMP level in either intergroup or intragroup analysis. In gait analysis, the gait velocity of the peat group increased from 0.781 m/s to 0.873 m/s after intervention (p=0.002), while it decreased in the control group. The knee varus/valgus range of motion during gaits was reduced from 11.455° to 8.439° after intervention in the peat group (p=0.006). Conclusions This study showed that peat can be considered as a therapeutic option for pain relief of knee osteoarthritis patients. The reduction in knee joint varus/valgus range of motion and the increase in gait velocity after peat intervention were also identified through this research, which is the first to analyze the effects of peat on gait.
Highlights
Osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee is a common joint disease in which cartilage is destroyed by recurrent physical damage caused by excessive use or trauma
Patients who met the following criteria were included in the study: knee pain for more than three months; diagnosis of knee OA according to the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) classification criteria [23]; a Visual Analog Scale (VAS) score for pain of 3 or more; a Kellgren-Lawrence osteoarthritis grade [24] 1 to 3
E demographic characteristics of the study population are presented in Table 1. ere was no significant difference in age or body mass index (BMI) between the peat intervention and control groups
Summary
Osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee is a common joint disease in which cartilage is destroyed by recurrent physical damage caused by excessive use or trauma. Progression of the disease is understood to result from abnormal remodeling of affected joint tissues and to involve various inflammatory mediators [1]. Disease-related chronic pain and impaired function restrict physical activities and increase medical expenses in those affected by knee OA, which are a huge burden for both patients and society [2, 3]. Kinematic gait analyses of OA patients have shown that the knee joint varus angle during the stance phase of gait is greater than in healthy control subjects [9, 10]
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