Balneotherapy for arthritis - what is it and does it work?
A new systematic medical review published in the Cochrane Collaboration describes the effectiveness of “balneotherapy”. This is a type of treatment where people use mineral baths which traditionally have involved thermal water.
Balneotherapy or spa-therapy is an ancient and popular therapy. It involves spending time in an indoor pool filled with mineral water at temperature of between 31 to 34 degrees Celsius (88 to 93 degrees Farenheit). Different types of mineral water may be used in this therapy.
They compared them to tap water baths or no treatment at all. Only seven trials have been conducted.
They found overall that there was some evidence that these provided some benefit in levels of pain and analgesia compared to no treatment at all. Unfortunately though the evidence was weak and the studies were poorly conducted.
The reviewers comment said that these so-called positive findings should be viewed with caution.
Our general impression is that the people wish to pursue mineral baths and so-called “dead sea baths” they should do so not at the expense of an insurer.
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