Abstract

GUZMAN CARBALLO, Niurka María. Effectiveness of balneotherapy in patients suffering from osteoarthritis. Rev Ciencias Médicas [online]. 2012, vol.16, n.2, pp. 138-152. ISSN 1561-3194.

For centuries the use of hydrothermal waters constitutes an important procedure. Objective: To describe the effectiveness of mining-medicinal waters from "San Diego de los Baños" Spa in patients suffering from osteoarthritis. Material and Methods: Applied, longitudinal and prospective research in "San Diego" Spa from January 2005 to December 2006. The target group and the sample comprised 868 patients referred from their health area and from the Centers of Rheumatology of the country attending to the Spa, considering also the contraindications to this therapeutic; obtaining a sample of 517 patients who suffered from osteoarthritis, these patients got medicinal-mining baths at "El Templado" spring during 21 days having a weekly assessment in the medical office. Measures to resume qualitative data and chi square test were used. Results: Female sex (61%), ages from 60 and more and retired people prevailed, being hypertension the most frequent associated entity (21, 2%); 84% of the patients improved using this treatment. Conclusion: the effectiveness of mining-medicinal waters in osteoarthritis was proved.

Keywords : Osteoarthritis [diagnosis]; Osteoarthritis [therapy].

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