Clinical effectiveness of mud pack therapy in knee osteoarthritis

OBJECTIVE: The main objective of this study was to systematically review all the scientific studies that analyse the effectiveness of mud pack therapy on patients diagnosed with knee OA. METHODS: One hundred and fifteen publications were identified through an electronic and manual search and 20 of those studies were chosen based on the inclusion criteria: randomized clinical trials, systematic reviews or meta-analyses whose objective was to analyse the effect of mud pack therapy on perceived pain, function and quality of life, with a sample size of ≥20 subjects, published since 2000 and showing conclusive results. RESULTS: In the studies that met the inclusion criteria, 12 analyse functionality, 17 perceived pain, 5 quality of life and all showed a significant improvement in the three analysed variables. The methodological quality of the studies had a moderate risk of bias. CONCLUSION: Mud pack therapy is considered an alternative and effective therapy in the clinical management of knee OA. Studies with better methodology are needed to prove its scope.