The aim of this study was to verify the clinical responses to Thai massage (TM) and Thai herbal compression (THC) for treating osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee in comparison to oral ibuprofen. This study was a randomized, evaluator-blind, controlled trial. Sixty patients with OA of the knee were randomly assigned to receive either a one-hour session of TM or THC (three times weekly) or oral ibuprofen (three times daily). The duration of treatment was three weeks. The clinical assessments included visual analog scale assessing pain and stiffness, Lequesne’s functional index, time for climbing up ten steps, and physician’s and patient’s overall opinions on improvement. In a within-group comparison, each treatment modality caused a significant improvement of all variables determined for outcome assessments. In an among group comparison, all modalities provided nearly comparable clinical efficacy after a three-week symptomatic treatment of OA of the knee, in which a trend toward greatest improvement was likely to be found in THC group. In conclusion, TM and THC generally provided comparable clinical efficacy to oral ibuprofen after three weeks of treatment and could be considered as complementary and alternative treatments for OA of the knee.
1Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kean University, Thailand.
2Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, USA.
3Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Associated Medical Sciences, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand.
4Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kean University, Thailand. Electronic address: aparad@kku.ac.th.
Abstract
RATIONAL AND BACKGROUND:
TraditionalThai massage (TTM) is an alternative medicine treatment used for pain relief. The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic review of the research about the effects of TTM on pain intensity and other important outcomes in individuals with chronic pain.
METHODS:
We performed a systematic review of the controlled trials of the effects of TTM, using the keywords “TraditionalThai massage” or “Thai massage” with the keyword “Chronic pain.”
RESULTS:
Six research articles met the inclusion criteria. All of the studies found a pre- to post-treatment pain reductions, varying from 25% to 80% and was also associated with improvements in disability, perceived muscle tension, flexibility and anxiety.
SUMMARY:
The TTM benefits of pain reduction appear to maintain for up to 15 weeks. Additional research is needed to identify the moderators, mediators and to determine the long-term benefits of TTM relative to control conditions.
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Chatchawan U1, Eungpinichpong W1, Plandee P1, Yamauchi J1. 1Research Center in Back, Neck, Other Joint Pain and Human Performance (BNOJPH), Faculty of Associated Medical Sciences, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand.
Abstract
BACKGROUND Peripheral neuropathy is the most common complications of diabetic patients and leads to loss of plantar cutaneous sensation, movement perception, and body balance. Thai foot massage is an alternative therapy to improve balance.
Thai Traditional Medicine Herb “Haem” Kills Cancer cells.
Anthony B James DNM(C), ND, MD(AM), DOM(C), DPHC(h.c.), PhD, RAC, SMOKH
Researchers at Department of Pharmacology and Traditional and Complementary Medicine Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand demonstrated that the Thai Medicinal Herb Haem (Thai) also known as “Tree Tumeric” had a beneficial and clinically verifiable effect in both killing and inhibiting cell growth on human head and neck cancer cell line (HN31). Continue reading Thai Traditional Medicine Herb “Haem” Kills Cancer cells→
1Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand.
2Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand ; Center of ThaiTraditional and Complementary Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand.
Coscinium fenestratum is widely used as a medicinal plant in many Asian countries. This study aimed to investigate the cytotoxic effect of a crude water extract of C. fenestratum (CF extract) compared to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) on human HN31 cell line, a metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the pharynx.
PubMed® is the premiere database for scientific and medical research, and is a service of the US National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health. As NIH: NLM Licensed providers, we syndicate publicly available abstracts from PubMed that are relevant to our readers. For full text, subscription to PubMed® is required.
