Una Comparación De La Hidroterapia Kneipp Con Convencionales Fisioterapia En El Tratamiento De La Artrosis De Cadera O Rodilla: Protocolo De Un Estudio Prospectivo Aleatorizado Ensayo Clínico Controlado

Study protocol Open Access
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
Martin Schencking*1,2, Adriane Otto2, Tobias Deutsch2 and
Hagen Sandholzer2
Address: 1Kneipp Clinic (Sebastianeum & Kneippianum) Bad Wörishofen, Kneippstrasse 08, D-86825 BadWörishofen, Germany and 2Dept of
Primary Care, University of Leipzig Medical School, Ph.-Rosenthal-Strasse 55, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany
Email: Martin Schencking* - naturedoc@web.de; Adriane Otto - adriane.otto@gmx.de; Tobias Deutsch - tobias.deutsch@medizin.unileipzig.
de; Hagen Sandholzer - haeb@medizin.uni-leipzig.de
* Corresponding author
Abstract
Background: The increasing age of thepopulation, especially in the western world, means that
the prevalence of osteoarthritis is also increasing, with corresponding socioeconomic
consequences. Although there is no curative intervention at present, in accordance with US and
European guidelines, pharmacotherapeutic and non-pharmacological approaches aim at pain
control and the reduction of functional restriction.
It has been establishedthat hydrotherapy for osteoarthritis of the hip or knee joint using serial cold
and warm water stimulation not only improves the range of movement but also reduces pain
significantly and increases quality of life over a period of up to three months. Weight reduction is
important for patients with osteoarthritis of the hip or knee. In addition, conventional
physiotherapy and exercise therapy haveboth been shown, at a high level of evidence, to be costeffective
and to have long-term benefits for pain relief, movement in the affected joint, and patient
quality of life.
Methods/design: 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 effectsof hydrotherapy on osteoarthritis of the knee or hip joint, in comparison with
conventional physiotherapy.
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 Kneipphydrotherapy
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
physiotherapythree times a week and alternate cold and warm thigh affusions every day. Followup
assessments will be on three levels: clinical assessment by the investigator; subjective patient
Published: 19 August 2009
BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders 2009, 10:104 doi:10.1186/1471-2474-10-104
Received: 17 July 2009
Accepted: 19 August 2009
This article is available from:http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2474/10/104
© 2009 Schencking et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0),
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders 2009, 10:104http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2474/10/104
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assessment consisting of a patient diary, and questionnaires on admission and at the end of the
treatment phase; and a final telephone assessment by the external evaluation centre. Assessments
will be made at baseline, after two weeks of inpatient treatment, and finally after a further ten
weeks of...