The Effects of Ambulatory Treatment at the Dead Sea on Osteoarthritis of the Knees

May 20, 2008 updated by: Soroka University Medical Center
This study will check the efficacy of balneological therapy of bathing in Dead Sea fountain waters over a 6 week period on a twice a week basis (overall 12 treatments) in patients suffering from osteoarthritis of the knees.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Since stay in the Dead Sea for a long period of time is an expensive matter, it is important to determine whether twice a week treatments can be as beneficiary as two straight weeks of treatments as was shown to be effective in previous studies.

Our study will follow the patients for a longer period of time (6 months) than was done in previous studies.

An additional advantage will be separating the therapeutical effect of our specific treatment from the therapeutical effect of being in a comfortable hotel away from the daily nuisances for 2 weeks which by itself has been shown to be pain relieving in patients suffering from rheumatic diseases.

Our study will take 50 patients suffering from Osteoarthritis of the knees and divide them in to 2 equal groups. One group will be treated twice a week with thermo-mineral baths at the temperature of 35-36 degrees Celsius for approximately 20 minutes. The other group will be treated twice a week with hot sweet water tub (without the water jets!) of the same temperature and for the same length of time.

Both groups will change nothing in their current medical treatment.

The patients will be examined at 5 points during this study: a few days before their first treatment, right after their last treatment (after 6 weeks), after one month, after 3 months and after 6 months.

All examination will be performed in the Soroka University Medical Center.

The clinical indexes and questionnaires which would be filled during this trial will be:

  1. WOMAC index
  2. Lequesne's index
  3. Visual analogue scale by the patient
  4. Visual analogue scale by the doctor
  5. SF 36 and Health assessment questionnaire (HAQ)

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

50

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

N/A

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients suffering from Osteoarthritis of the knees according to the conventional measurements of the American College of Rheumatology and who are treated in the Rheumatological clinics of the Soroka University Medical Center

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients suffering from any other rheumatological disease other than osteoarthritis
  • Patients that were previously treated with hydrotherapy or balneotherapy
  • Patients suffering from balance disorders or loss of consciousness disorders such as epilepsy, arrhythmias etc.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Quality of life evaluation at one, three and six months
Functional state of the patient at one, three and six months
Osteoarthritis severity at one, three and six months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Soroka University Medical Center

Collaborators

Lot Spa Hotel Dead Sea

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Shaul Sukenik, Prof., Soroka University Medical Center

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

March 1, 2007

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2007

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 21, 2007

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 21, 2007

First Posted (Estimate)

March 22, 2007

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

May 21, 2008

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 20, 2008

Last Verified

May 1, 2008

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • SOR450007CTIL

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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