Of cabbages and kings …

Well, cabbages for knee osteoarthritis, anyway! In this interesting study, three approaches to managing knee pain from moderate osteoarthritis were put to the test. To be truthful, actually only two active treatments were compared – the third was “usual care”.
In a carefully conducted trial, where participants were randomly allocated to one of three groups, and the study organiser remained blinded to which group people were allocated, topical diclofenac gel, usual care or a cabbage leaf compress were applied over the course of four weeks.  Key outcomes were pain intensity and scores on the WOMAC, a common measure of the impact of osteoarthritis on daily life.
Participants were asked to rate their expectations on whether cabbage leaf or the gel would be successful in improving knee pain prior to the study commencing. Each person in the cabbage leaf group was asked to take one or two cabbage leaves, remove the hard stem, bruise the leaves, then wrap them around the knee with a bandage and leave for at least two hours, preferably overnight. In the gel group, participants were asked to rub the gel over the knee up to 4 times a day. In the treatment as usual group, participants were asked to continue with their usual routine and care, but not to begin any new treatments over the period of time.
What did they find?
Well, as a breastfeeding mother I well remember the pain of engorged breasts – and the relief I got from cabbage leaves (although I will never f...

Source: HealthSkills Weblog - October 16, 2016 Category: Anesthesiology Authors: adiemusfree Tags: Chronic pain Coping strategies Resilience/Health biopsychosocial cabbage leaf wrap knee oa knee pain natural remedy osteoarthrits Source Type: blogs